Provincial Reconstruction Team – Baghdad Donates Arabic Literacy Program To Schools Across Baghdad

Baghdad l May 12, 2010

Dr. Nehad al Jaboury, Dr. Falah Ahmed, PRT-B team members and school representatives stand before boxes of My Arabic Library being donated to Baghdad schools

Thousands of young children across Baghdad will have new books to read in school, thanks to the Provincial Reconstruction Team – Baghdad (PRT-B), which has donated ten 40 foot shipping containers full of sets of “My Arabic Library” sets - enough to  reach more than four hundred schools across the Province.

PRT-Baghdad Team Leader Thomas Lynch explained the reason for the donation, "It is so important that the children of Baghdad, the next generation of leaders of Iraq, obtain basic literacy skills.  A love of learning and literacy will mean better job opportunities for them when they grow up.  They will be able to better support their families and to help build a more prosperous Iraq.”

The PRT worked with the Deputy Minister of Education, Dr. Nehad Al Jaboury and Baghdad Provincial Council Education Committee Chairman Dr. Falah Ahmed, to identify schools to receive the materials.

Dr. Falah noted the PRT has a long history of supporting education. “This is not the first time the Baghdad PRT has helped us in improving education in Baghdad and reaching out to the citizens of Baghdad in trying to fulfill their needs. My Arabic Library was a very successful idea when it was introduced to some schools in certain areas, so they wanted to expand the benefits of reading these books all over Baghdad.”

On Wednesday, May 12th, principals and educators from 35 schools in Baghdad received their allotments in a ceremony held at the Mansour al-Tasesiah primary school.  In all, the donations will reach hundreds of schools.

My Arabic Library is a set of books designed to encourage a love of reading in children in primary school.  Each set comes with a mix of age appropriate stories, including a mixture of fiction and non-fiction.  They also include teaching materials for instructors. 

According to Dr. Nehad al-Jaboury, most of these sets will be kept in school libraries.  “They are well-designed to enrich the minds of students with stories that they will enjoy reading, and to teach them morals and principles.  The Baghdad PRT put tremendous effort into delivering these books to almost every school in Baghdad and its suburbs.  This is not the end, this is a beginning of bigger campaign to fight illiteracy,” Dr. Nehad said.

For PRT Team Leader Thomas Lynch, these books are an important investment in Iraq’s future – its children.  “As much as the work the PRT and the United States have accomplished working on infrastructure projects, we believe these investments in the people of Iraq will pay off even more in the future”.