China building 1,000 schools in Iraq in the next 2 years...

Last Saturday (June 18), the groundbreaking ceremony took place for the first school to be built by two Chinese companies in Iraq. The ceremony was attended by Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi.

Last weekend’s start is the actual beginning of construction after an agreement was signed last December, comprising 15 contracts to build 1,000 schools by Power Construction Corporation of China (Power China) and Sinotech. Power China will build 679 schools while Sinotech will take care of 321 schools. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗜𝗿𝗮𝗾 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗮 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝘁𝗼𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝟴,𝟬𝟬𝟬 𝘀𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗹𝘀. The construction of the first 1,000 schools is scheduled to be completed within 2 years. The investment will take place in exchange for crude oil supplies.

According to UNICEF, there are currently around 𝟯.𝟮 𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘀𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗹-𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝗜𝗿𝗮𝗾 (𝟰𝟬 𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗽𝗼𝗽𝘂𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻) 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝘀𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗹, and in areas such as Diyala or Salah al-Din, the percentage of local children not in school is as high as 90 percent. An estimated 12,000 schools are needed to meet the growing numbers of students in Iraq.

The 1,000 school agreement was signed on December 16, 2021, exactly one week after US president Biden formally declared the end of the US combat mission in Iraq (December 9, 2021). Although about 2,500 US troops remain in the country.

#iraq #education