Mosul’s female students struggle to make up for lost school years

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Many children in recently liberated Mosul have lost out on three years of education since ISIS took control of the Iraqi city in 2014.

Mosul’s Trablus School for Girls, which reopened its gates in late May, was the first school to reopen in western Mosul as the Iraqi forces finally expelled ISIS completely from west Mosul earlier this month. Many other schools have since followed suit, AFP news reported yesterday.

“We have a mission. I want them [the girls] to succeed," Iman Yussef, a teacher for 26 years, 10 of them at Trablus said.

AFP reported under ISIS rule, teachers were forced to show up to the school or face arrest by religious police.

"Many [teachers] just ran away but those with nowhere to go had to come," Yussef said.

Rudaw spoke with children from Mosul last summer as they were fleeing ISIS. One of whom was Shima, a nine-year-old from southeast Mosul who with her family had fled to Debaga refugee camp.

Shima was torn and emotional — overcome by the joy of being out of ISIS-held territory and dodging mortar fire, but sad that she could not attend school.

"I couldn't study because ISIS was taking money from us. I don't know if I can study in third grade or not.  I finished first and second grade, but wasn't able to finish third grade because there were asking for money," Shema told Rudaw as she wiped away tears.

Under ISIS, the school had 27 pupils. Now they cater to at least 650, with at least 90 students crowded into each classroom.

"We don't talk about those times any more. It's like a wound that hasn't healed, so we don't touch it," said Shada Shammaa, an Arabic teacher at the school.

AFP reported science, history, geography and biology were scrapped from the school’s curriculum under ISIS, leaving only studies in Islam, Arabic and English.

The Iraqi government has stated that it does not recognize any schooling which took place under ISIS rule, so it is a priority for the girls at Trablus to catch up with their peers across the nation.

“After three years under ISIS rule we want to develop, we want to be civilized again,” said the school's administrator Jassem. 

While approximately 350,000 students have returned to school in both east and west Mosul, UNICEF estimates around 1.2 million Iraqi children are not in school nationwide.

“These girls have a fresh chance," Jassem said.