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Book Explores What Iraq Must Do to Improve Its Education System

(The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Al-Fanar Media).

Iraq urgently needs to reform its education system, the Iraqi academic Mohamed Al-Rubeai argues in his recent book, “Education Issues in Iraq”.

Al-Rubeai examines the condition of education in Iraq along three axes: the difficulties the education system faces, the challenges that hinder reforms, and potential solutions that could put the system on the right track to help build future generations.

The book, in Arabic, was published in March by London Printing and Publishing.

In it, Al-Rubeai points out that the recommendations of international institutions that are concerned with education in Iraq focus on the need to prioritise investment in education and increase spending on educational institutions in order to advance their role, improve the professionalism of their teaching staffs, and raise the quality of education they provide.

Al-Rubeai states that education is the most important tool in building any ambitious society that seeks to achieve national, human, and societal development across all areas of technical development. Education, he thinks, is the basis for nations’ progress and achieving socioeconomic well-being through which the values of equality in rights and duties will prevail.

Learning from Singapore and Finland

The book makes the case that countries that have developed their education systems have made progress in all areas of life. It discusses two examples, Singapore and Finland, where major transformations in the education systems helped the countries make big leaps to rank among the best internationally in education.

Iraq, meanwhile, lags on measures of young people’s learning and potential productivity levels.

The book makes the case that countries that have developed their education systems have made progress in all areas of life. It discusses two examples, Singapore and Finland, where major transformations in the education systems helped the countries make big leaps to rank among the best internationally in education.

Al-Rubeai believes that Iraq is living in a whirl of complex, intertwined crises that have no immediate solutions, due to political and financial corruption infiltrating all aspects of the state. The failed patchwork measures undertaken by successive governments did not have any practical impact on finding radical solutions, he writes. Scientific and practical solutions are needed to surmount these structural and deep problems and help educational institutions advance.

Rote Learning and Memorisation

Problems of Iraq’s education system include its producing generations of teachers who were not interested in modern educational methods. Instead, they relied on indoctrination, memorisation, and cheating to reach the top of the educational pyramid. On the other hand, the really educated and talented people were underestimated. Intelligence became based on one’s ability to memorise and recall information.

While many people complain about poor quality education, corruption in the educational system, and the lack of commitment to moral education in most institutions, the author thinks that the formal solutions and procedures in place are no longer able to produce plans and scientific visions to raise the standard of education in Iraq.

One factor that contributes to Iraq’s scientific and technological backwardness, he says, is a lag in mastering international languages that are the primary means of citation, acquiring science and transferring technology, through which Iraq can convey its knowledge, innovations and discoveries, and contribute to the development of human civilization.

Develop Critical Thinking

Al-Rubeai stresses the importance of making education available to all. He points to the need to develop the educational system so that children are not forced to parrotmemorized information. Instead, it should encourage them to appreciate participation, ask questions, and deal with topics that affect their daily lives.

The system should use modern technologies that contribute to increasing students’ effectiveness and skills, Al-Rubeai writes. It should also develop students’ creative, scientific, and critical thinking skills so they can become capable of objective analysis with high professionalism, clarity, and rationality.

Moreover, Al-Rubeai calls for adopting exploratory teaching methods that enhance skills and strengthen the rational self that focuses on understanding and application, rather than rote learning and memorisation.

Civic Responsibility

Al-Rubeai also stresses the importance of a sense of belonging, and moral commitment. He sees a crisis in knowledge, values, and ethics in Iraqi society at large. The schools’ curricula fail to develop the Iraqi personality as an individual who is proud of belonging to his institution, whether it is a school, a university, a government department, or a factory, and as a good, productive member of a free democratic society, and as a law-abiding citizen, he says.

Iraqi academic book cover d. Muhammad Al-Rubaie, entitled: “Education Issues in Iraq: Difficulties, Challenges and Solutions” (Iraqi Al-Zaman newspaper website).

He calls for teaching civic education and developing solid curricula that take into account the spirit of the age. It is not enough to change the educational philosophy without translating it into practical reality, he says. He also stresses that the qualitative improvement of education lies in providing training opportunities for teachers and upgrading their efficiency of teachers.

Moreover, he calls for the examination system should be based on modern qualitative technologies with reliable standards, supported by a national future vision for comprehensive change that promotes the development of modern infrastructure that provides a healthy educational environment.

More Than a Technical Issue

The author concludes that “education issues in Iraq are no longer technical”. It is not just a matter of reforming tools, programmes, and administrative systems, it is rather a political issue that requires advanced rational treatments that explore the causes of the crisis and transcend them with a vision that can raise the educational standard and upgrade it to global levels.

“Education issues in Iraq are no longer technical,” the author concludes. It is not just a matter of reforming tools, programmes, and administrative systems, but rather a political issue that requires rational treatments that explore the causes of the crisis and transcend them with a vision that can raise the educational standard and upgrade it to global levels.b

He calls on policy makers to benefit from the examples of societies with similar experiences that were able to provide education, in harmony with the needs of the twenty-first century, that goes far beyond mere reading and writing, A quality education also gives learners skills in problem-solving, communication and conversation and gives them a solid foundation for lifelong quality self-education, he writes.

Al-Rubeai believes this will enable generations of learners to overcome the cognitive crises that hinder development and help them achieve the advantages of education and a conscious community culture that qualifies students to understand market developments and needs to meet practical life challenges.

In conclusion, the author believes we are surrounded by technological developments and scientific products in all areas of life, along with unlimited challenges. This require decision-makers to be convinced of the need to keep pace with modernisation, and to provide an interactive environment through the wide use of technologies and modern devices that contribute to the prosperity of Iraq, and achieving social and health equality in all scientific fields.

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While he calls on Iraq’s education leaders to benefit from his book, he stresses that future generations must devise methods that promote thinking, learning, and making the right decisions that motivate them to think critically based on practical skills.

Abdul-Hussein Al-Taie is an Iraqi academic based in the United Kingdom.

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