The Ministry of Education for the Kurdistan Regional Government KRG has decided to exempt the survivors of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria ISIS captivityfrom the age requirement for the upcoming academic year.
They will also receive a financial scholarship as part of a project aimed at supporting these individuals.
The KRG project also involves providing a monthly grant to help reintegrate those who left school, waiving the age requirement, and offering free enrollment in both public and private institutions. Furthermore, a center will be established to provide various psychological support services.
Saeed Jardo, the leader of the Supreme Committee of the Lalish Cultural and Media Center, stated to KirkukNow that the regional government has given the green light to a project where each survivor will be given a financial grant of 150,000 Iraqi dinars IQD (USD100). The distribution of these grants to survivors will commence shortly.
Jardo also mentioned that survivors who had to leave school can now return to their studies without any age restrictions, as many survivors of ISIS were previously unable to continue their education due to age limitations.
The extremist militants of the ISIS took control of the city of Mosul, the center of Nineveh province, and large swathes of Iraq on June 10, 2014, and on August 3 of the same year they attacked Shingal.
IS has kidnapped 6,417 Ezidis, of whom more than 3,500 have been rescued, according to statistics previously published by KirkukNow. Ovver 1,300 Turkmen went missing, mostly in the district of Tala'afar, of whom only 48 have been released, and 62 Christians went missing during the IS era, but no statistics are available on Shabak abductees.
The supervisor of Lalish Cultural and Media Center expressed the significance of the government's move, stating that it offers survivors a chance to go back to school.
The KRG Ministry of Education made a series of decisions on July 18 as part of a project. The decisions included instructing education departments to oversee a committee dedicated to this issue and granting them authority to waive age requirements for survivors.
It was also mentioned that survivors of IS who have finished ninth grade will not need to meet admission requirements for government institutes under the Ministry of Education to obtain diploma degree, allowing them to choose any government institute they prefer.
Moreover, ninth-grade students have the opportunity to attend private institutes affiliated with the Ministry of Education at no cost. The Ministry of Education emphasized that applications to both government and private institutes will be based on a list of survivor names provided by relevant government agencies.
Iraq’s education infrastructure is in ruins in many parts of the country; one in every two schools is damaged and needs rehabilitation, says a report by the United Nations Children's Fund UNICEF about education in Iraq.
Many schools operate in multiple shifts due to inadequate buildings and staff in an attempt to accommodate as many students as possible, squeezing the little learning time that children have.
