Contextualizing the Safe Back to School Guidance in Iraq: A Reflection from the Iraq Education Cluster

What are the three greatest challenges to accessing education in Iraq through the COVID-19 pandemic?

1. Accessibility Challenges in Federal Governorates, including:

• Challenges in access to officially recognized online learning platforms for the most vulnerable children
• Limited digital literacy of teachers
• Limited technological infrastructure in educational institutions impeding the development and administration of e-learning modalities
• Poor or non-existent internet services impact accessibility for students in situations where devices for e-learning are available
• Existing satellite education channels used to broadcast educational lessons on the television require additional channels and timeslots to reach more students

2. Keeping up the continuous engagement of children in learning

Children are at risk of dropping out due to factors such as economic hardship and family relocation to areas with better income generation opportunities; community engagement and advocacy is critical to keep children learning.  Feedback from families and field teams show that the limited structure during the day can lead to excessive use of available digital devices and the lack of social interactions with friends impacts the well-being of children, as well as their readiness to learn. Parents report that children have difficulties concentrating, and irregular sleep patterns also cause additional fatigue. Children also expressed fear about coping with learning when schools eventually re-open.

3. Systems-related Challenges

Three key systems-related challenges are:

• Design of e-learning educational materials should be based on student capacity to access learning and include tools to measure extent of learning and feedback. However, limited capacity of education personnel in e-learning methodologies remains a challenge
• Lack of sufficient school buildings has resulted in overcrowding and schools running double and triple shifts, further compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic; this presents health and safety challenges for safe return to school for students
• Limited internet connection in rural areas is a key challenge to reach the most vulnerable children

What have been some of the key achievements/successes regarding the Cluster COVID-19 response?

Three key successes and achievements around the Iraq Cluster’s COVID-19 response include:

• Development of a Business Continuity Plan for Education in Iraq, which sets out distance learning modalities, including e-learning, satellite education channels, self-learning and safe reopening of learning spaces
• Contextualization of the framework for reopening schools, led by some members of the Iraq Cluster Strategic Advisory Group
• Supported partners to secure funding from the Iraq Humanitarian Fund to take distance learning plans forward. The Education Cannot Wait fund also provided support for distance learning modalities and actions towards the safe reopening of schools.

How has the Framework for Reopening Schools and the Safe Back to School Practitioners´ Guide been contextualized and been useful in your context? 

The Safe Back to School Practitioners’ Guide was contextualized by the Iraq Cluster Strategic Advisory Group Task Force, comprising of 1 National NGO, 2 INGOS, and 1 UN agency, bringing together various expertise and awareness of challenges. The document was shared with the government to ensure alignment with national plans prior to its dissemination.

The Framework for Reopening Schools and Practitioner’s Guide were crucial starting points for discussions when engaging with Ministries of Education. Additionally, they were useful tools to help partners anticipate needs to address in the reopening process. Some standards outlined in the guidelines have long term relevance beyond the COVID-19 pandemic that will require Ministries of Education and Cluster partners to continue to work together to address – for example, the scale of damage to WASH facilities caused by years of conflict, and poor quality of education prior to COVID-19.

Some of the standards in the guidelines have longer term relevance beyond the current pandemic. This will need MOEs and Cluster partners to work collaboratively to address needs such as, for example, the scale of damage to WASH facilities caused by years of conflict, and the poor quality of education prior to COVID-19.

What would you recommend to other Education Clusters that are planning/are in the process of contextualizing the guidance/preparing for school reopening?

The contextualized document should be as practical as possible and provide a clear direction for partners. It is important that existing resources are referred to, similarly to the Practitioner’s Guide, and linked to the document. Many organizations are struggling with the number of documents produced at global level, and the contextualized framework is an opportunity to link to the most useful resources for the specific context. The Iraq Task Team which contextualized the guidelines would recommend engaging all education stakeholders, taking into account learning constraints that existed in the country prior to COVID-19 and develop interim standards that can be achieved in the context of the pandemic.