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Children's Schooling Suffers in Baghdad

Aired April 29, 2003 - 13:38   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's take a look now at how daily life is progressing in Iraq, where educating the country's children is considered an essential part of its future, naturally, but for now, that future remains on hold.
Here is Rula Amin in Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RULA AMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's time for school, but the road leading to the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) school is unusually empty.

At 8:00 a.m., nine-year-old Duram (ph) is the only student who showed up for class. Even his teachers didn't appear.

Duram says he heard schools would reopen today so he waits. We wait together. We came because we were also told schools were set to reopen.

Duram shows me his school books. They all start with a picture of Saddam Hussein.

I ask him to read me something from his English book.

He stumbles, then he explains. "I forgot, " he says. "It's been over a month since I've been to school."

The neighborhood starts to wake up. Other children appear, still in their pajamas. The parents are frustrated.

"I'm very worried, " says this father, "when my children are not studying and life moves on."

Another father tells me he wouldn't send his children to school yet. "Baghdad is still not safe," he says.

The neighbors gather, and they pour out their frustrations.

"Who will give the teachers their salaries?" they ask. "No wonder the teachers have stayed away. Many schools have been looted. There's no electricity, no running water, and there are weapons and ammunition, in some schools, used by the Iraqi army during the war.

And some, like the high school at the Baghdad College, are occupied by the U.S. Army. In this old Christian neighborhood, U.S. troops have turned the school into a base for themselves, shutting the students out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They came to study. Give them the opportunity to study.

AMIN: A father and son try to make their case.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm in the last year. I'm in the last year in this high school.

AMIN: The soldiers tell them the school is without power. We are here to protect the school, they say. The desperate student doesn't buy it. But there's not much he can do.

There are more than four million schoolchildren in Iraq, many of them just roaming the streets.

(on camera): Iraqis say they hear of many ambitious plans for the future of their kids. For now, their ambition is to bring life back to the way it was.

(voice-over): That is, students back at their desks, but out of the shadow of the old regime.

Rula Amin, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired April 29, 2003 - 13:38   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's take a look now at how daily life is progressing in Iraq, where educating the country's children is considered an essential part of its future, naturally, but for now, that future remains on hold.
Here is Rula Amin in Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RULA AMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's time for school, but the road leading to the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) school is unusually empty.

At 8:00 a.m., nine-year-old Duram (ph) is the only student who showed up for class. Even his teachers didn't appear.

Duram says he heard schools would reopen today so he waits. We wait together. We came because we were also told schools were set to reopen.

Duram shows me his school books. They all start with a picture of Saddam Hussein.

I ask him to read me something from his English book.

He stumbles, then he explains. "I forgot, " he says. "It's been over a month since I've been to school."

The neighborhood starts to wake up. Other children appear, still in their pajamas. The parents are frustrated.

"I'm very worried, " says this father, "when my children are not studying and life moves on."

Another father tells me he wouldn't send his children to school yet. "Baghdad is still not safe," he says.

The neighbors gather, and they pour out their frustrations.

"Who will give the teachers their salaries?" they ask. "No wonder the teachers have stayed away. Many schools have been looted. There's no electricity, no running water, and there are weapons and ammunition, in some schools, used by the Iraqi army during the war.

And some, like the high school at the Baghdad College, are occupied by the U.S. Army. In this old Christian neighborhood, U.S. troops have turned the school into a base for themselves, shutting the students out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They came to study. Give them the opportunity to study.

AMIN: A father and son try to make their case.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm in the last year. I'm in the last year in this high school.

AMIN: The soldiers tell them the school is without power. We are here to protect the school, they say. The desperate student doesn't buy it. But there's not much he can do.

There are more than four million schoolchildren in Iraq, many of them just roaming the streets.

(on camera): Iraqis say they hear of many ambitious plans for the future of their kids. For now, their ambition is to bring life back to the way it was.

(voice-over): That is, students back at their desks, but out of the shadow of the old regime.

Rula Amin, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com