Iraq moves forward on positive discipline
“I’m looking for solutions to the problems students from Mosul, who are now living in Duhok, face with their education,” says Mohammed Ali, a school supervisor, himself displaced by conflict in Mosul to Duhok.
Among the many challenges he faces in creating a satisfactory school environment for children is encouraging a classroom culture where teachers and students treat each other with mutual respect.
Mr. Ali recently attended a positive discipline conference in Erbil where education authorities from eight Iraqi governorates met to move forward on a nationwide agreement, signed late last year, to end violence in Iraqi schools.
Since the agreements were signed in Baghdad and Erbil in December 2015, committees have been developing a manual on positive discipline for teachers, students and parents. Participation of all three groups is necessary to change a culture where corporal punishment is not only accepted, but expected.
The agreement includes those displaced from Mosul, who although now living in Duhok in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, remain under the umbrella of federal Iraqi education system.
“Keeping up standards in the schools is difficult,” Mr. Ali says. “Students feel confined in the camps, and we need everything — from electricity to school books. But the most important thing is to avoid using physical punishment. We must help them to solve their problems in other ways. Harsh punishment creates bad feelings about education, and toward teachers.”
Thanks to a generous contribution from the German Development Bank (KfW), UNICEF is supporting a campaign to change the way parents, teachers and children think about school; transforming perceptions and behaviors to make it a welcoming and supportive environment where physical punishment is forbidden. The approach is based on UNICEF’s child friendly schools initiative that offers a holistic approach to improving education systems to promote enrolment, reduce dropouts and improve completion rates.
In Iraq the Child Friendly Schools approach includes training educators and supporting every governorate as it comes up with an implementation plan. In the early stage 260 schools have been selected to implement the new ideas, however the ultimate aim is to end corporal punishment in schools entirely.
“There has been a lull in implementation due to political uncertainty,” says UNICEF Iraq Chief of Education, Ikem Chiejine, “however we are gathering momentum once again.”
UNICEF has supported Iraqi educators as they develop a code of conduct for teachers, students and parents, backed up by a media campaign and a widespread training programme.
“We hope that the messages will generate change in they way that teachers, students and parents see punishment and education,” says Mr. Chiejine. “Positive discipline is a concept which will improve the quality of education for children in Iraq.”
Chris Niles is a Consultant with UNICEF Iraq.
For direct donations to UNICEF in Iraq: http://support.unicef.org/campaign/donate-children-iraq
