Baghdad Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi directed the Ministry of Education to develop a comprehensive and studied plan to combat and eradicate illiteracy.
During his meeting with a number of educational staff on the occasion of the International Literacy Day, Al-Kadhimi said: “The International Literacy Day enhances everything that preserves human rights through science and education.”
He added: “It must be recognized that mismanagement and corruption contributed to the low level of education.”
He added, “Despite the presence of a huge number of illiterates in the world, but it is painful to find among the sons of Iraq who cannot read and write, and it is unreasonable that there are illiterates in the land that made the stationery and the pen thousands of years ago.”
Al-Kadhimi continued, “It is unfortunate that successive governments did not work on real and effective programs to end illiteracy in Iraq,” noting that “illiteracy and ignorance create an environment for extremism, social diseases, crimes and other societal pests.”
The Prime Minister stressed that “there is a failure in education that has led to the creation of an atmosphere of ignorance, crises, acceptance of wrong ideas, and absurd wars that have produced a complex environment with the disappearance of interest in education and health.”
He stated: “We must admit that mismanagement, corruption, and the lack of a real educational cadre contributed to the low level of education, and we must take correct steps to support the Ministry of Education and the educational staff by providing them with a life worthy of them to perform their duty in the best way,” stressing the necessity “to be in the ranks of countries that are looking for a better educational future for themselves and their children.”
Al-Kadhimi explained that “what was spent during the past decades in wars and conflicts, and what was wasted in corruption and theft, had it been invested in previous fields, Iraq would have become in another situation today,” noting that “previous budgets in the field of education are a shameful thing, and what is required is that there will be an increase in the upcoming budgets that befits the name of Iraq and our responsibility in managing this country.”
The Prime Minister went on to say, “Our goal is to build a strong Iraq with science, culture, civilization and civility. We must work to establish a culture of life and thinking about the future, and all of this can only be done with serious and regular work, and investment in the education sector.”
Al-Kadhimi re-emphasized that “all Iraqis have the right to a decent, free education that opens the mind and knowledge, so that it is reflected in the building of the nation.”
He concluded by saying: “We do not want to plunge the country into new labyrinths called ignorance, backwardness, and not thinking about the future.
Source: National Iraqi News Agency