Iraqi children dump Islamic State's books
of violence
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[November 18, 2016]
By Isabel Coles
QAYYARA, Iraq (Reuters) - The school walls
have a fresh coat of paint and classrooms are crammed, but it will take
longer to undo the damage done to thousands of Iraqi children who lived
under Islamic State for more than two years.
Although the school term began officially in September, only this week
have pupils in the northern town of Qayyara been re-issued with standard
Iraqi textbooks, which the militants replaced with their own in an
attempt to brainwash a generation.
Islamic State was driven from the town three months ago in the early
stages of a campaign to recapture the city of Mosul, which lies about 60
km (40 miles) to north and is now under assault by Iraqi security forces
backed by a U.S.-led coalition.
As Islamic State's self-proclaimed caliphate is eroded, a clearer
picture is emerging of the group's project and the enduring mark left on
those who lived through it.
"We are happy to be back at school," said eight-year-old Iman, who like
most of her classmates stopped attending classes after Islamic State
took control. "They wanted us to come but we didn't want to because we
don't know how to study in their language, the language of violence."
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When the militants overran the area in the summer of 2014, they allowed
schools to run as normal, local people said. But later they banned
subjects they considered un-Islamic such as geography, history and civic
education, and used boys' schools as a recruiting ground.
The following school year, beginning in 2015, Islamic State imposed an
entirely new curriculum to inculcate children with their ideology. Maths
exercises were expressed in terms of weapons and ammunition: "one bullet
plus two bullets equals how many bullets?".
At that point, most parents stopped sending their children to school,
and many pupils who were old enough to make up their minds left
voluntarily.
As a result, most children have been set back by two grades, and since
some teachers have been displaced by the violence, there is only one
teacher for roughly every 80 pupils at the girls' school in Qayyara.
"They have forgotten their lessons... Now we are reminding them," said
their teacher Maha Nadhem Kadhem, pacing around the classroom, in which
four girls are squeezed onto each bench made for two. "We don't want
them to be illiterate and ignorant."
The headmistress, who asked to remain unnamed, said Islamic State's vice
squad known as the Hisba had made regular visits to the school to ensure
compliance with the group's strict dress code for women and girls.
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![](../images/111816pics/news_s29.jpg)
Students attend classes after the city was recaptured from the
Islamic State militants in Qayyara, Iraq, November 17, 2016.
REUTERS/Ari Jalal/File Photo
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Others such as Farouq Mahjoub, the assistant headmaster of a
secondary school for boys in Qayyara, said he had been threatened
with death unless he turned up to work, even though no pupils came
to class by the end.
"The biggest impact is on children," said Mahjoub, whose school was
hit by an airstrike several months ago. "Children are malleable; you
can change their opinion and beliefs quickly."
Mahjoub said children behaved more aggressively than before, and
that the games they play now are violent, estimating it would take
no less than five years to reverse the damage, even if a plan to
rehabilitate them was put into effect.
Missing from the classroom in the girls' school are dozens of pupils
whose male relatives were associated with Islamic State and are no
longer welcome in Qayyara. Mahjoub said around 10 of his own
students had joined the militants.
Behind the school are the remains of a car bomb that has yet to be
removed and the sky is dark with smoke from oil wells the militants
set ablaze, making it hard to breathe and turning sheep black.
On a nearby street, a group of boys coughing from the smoke
described what they had seen under Islamic State, including the
bodies of its opponents strung up in public places as an example to
others.
Dancing and singing the same Iraqi patriotic songs blaring from
passing military convoys, 11-year-old Thamer paused to describe how
a local Islamic State member called Abu Suleiman had been lynched
after Iraqi forces recaptured the town.
The man's brain and heart spilled out of his body, said Thamer in a
high-pitched voice: "They took revenge on him," he said. "It was
right. We were happy."
(editing by David Stamp)
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