Rising Together: A Family’s Stand
The sisters had never been to school. “I find Manahel and Malak entering the Accelerated Learning Programme (ALP) like a dream,” their mother, Kutbia, says.
A widow, Kutbia’s husband died when the children were young. She has two older sons as well, 14-year-old Malik and 13-year-old Ahmad. Malik and Ahmad were in class 2 and 1 respectively when they were forced to drop out of school. At that time, their grandfather and uncle who worked for the Iraqi National Forces supported the family financially. But, when ISIL/Da’esh seized Mosul, the group killed many people, sadly the grandfather and uncle figured amongst the fallen. From there, ISIL/Da’esh prompted many children to leave school by trying to change the curriculum and insert violent/extreme ideas into their education.
“The main reason my sons left school was poverty,” says Kutbia. Ahmad and Malik resorted to selling tissue paper on the street for money.
“I was sad about not seeing my friends at school, but when I joined this ALP I was happy to make new friends” says Ahmad. He is enrolled at the Omear bin Wahab ALP school, courtesy of Education Above All (EAA) Foundation, through its global programme Educate A Child (EAC), and UNESCO through a joint initiative to enrol 150,000 of Iraq’s most vulnerable out of school children (OOSC) into quality primary education.
In spite of the biting poverty and the tragic circumstance, Kutbia’s children are getting a second chance to gain all the benefits that education provides. The EAA/UNESCO project has helped the young family by providing the necessary documentation to facilitate school enrolment, as well as book bags and stationery. Today, Manahel and Malak enjoy studying Arabic and want to be primary-school teachers, while their brothers love maths. Malik hopes to be a police officer and Ahmad wants to be a lawyer in the future.
“I’m so proud to see those girls with disabilities in my school,” says Haifaa Thanon the headmaster of Al-Taif ALP school. Amal Abas, their teacher, added, “Manahal and Malak are smart and fast learners.”
“Ahmad and Malik are keen students,” says Zaid Jabar, their teacher.
