'Dust and scorpions': Inside Iraq's crumbling school system

Bani Saad, Iraq (AFP) April 2, 2024

In a small village in central Iraq, children cram into dilapidated classrooms in a converted farmhouse with open-air toilets, a symptom of how education has been neglected in the oil-rich but war-weary country. "We close the school when it rains because water leaks through the roof," said Oudai Abdallah, director of a public elementary school in Bani Saad district, 40 kilometres (25 miles) n