Around 1,000 Erbil students study in caravans with schools turned into animal sheds
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - An incomplete school in Erbil’s Berkot neighborhood has been abandoned and turned into an animal shed with nearly a thousand students currently attending classes in a caravan.
The building was constructed in 2017 for the new Berkot school but was abandoned by the contractor due to non-payment. It has been overrun by animals and turned into a shed, forcing roughly 950 students in a caravan located 150 meters away.
The students at Berkot Primary School study in a plastic caravan school as many of the building’s rooms are rotten and unusable, with the students exposed to elements such as cold and heat.
“Our teachers are good, but we have too many students in the classroom,” Ahmad Haval, a fifth-grade student, told Rudaw on Saturday.
“Our classrooms are very cold in winter and If it rains, we have to change the position of our chairs,” Sanaria Karwan, another fifth-grade student, said.
“It is very hot in summer as well. We have air conditioners but we don't have electricity,” she added.
“The floorboards of the school were all broken. When the teacher walked around, his feet would fall into the broken boards and I had to repair them temporarily. This is not the solution,” said Karwan Anwar, the assistant principal of the school.
“The condition of our school is unspeakably bad. It is unsustainable to work in during winter or summer, but we are forced to work,” said Laila Abdullah, a teacher at Berkot New School.
Nearly 950 students attend classes at the school in two separate sessions. Despite an eight-year-long wait for the completion of the new school, situated a mere 150 meters away from the caravans, educational authorities assert that there remains a lack of funding to complete its construction.
“We have many shortcomings. We want to teach the students better, but we can't, Dilzar Majeed, principal of the school, said.
Many of the 1,100 households in Berkot neighborhood have been compelled to transfer their children to alternative schools due to the dire state of the facility.
The building was constructed in 2017 for the new Berkot school but was abandoned by the contractor due to non-payment. It has been overrun by animals and turned into a shed, forcing roughly 950 students in a caravan located 150 meters away.
The students at Berkot Primary School study in a plastic caravan school as many of the building’s rooms are rotten and unusable, with the students exposed to elements such as cold and heat.
“Our teachers are good, but we have too many students in the classroom,” Ahmad Haval, a fifth-grade student, told Rudaw on Saturday.
“Our classrooms are very cold in winter and If it rains, we have to change the position of our chairs,” Sanaria Karwan, another fifth-grade student, said.
“It is very hot in summer as well. We have air conditioners but we don't have electricity,” she added.
“The floorboards of the school were all broken. When the teacher walked around, his feet would fall into the broken boards and I had to repair them temporarily. This is not the solution,” said Karwan Anwar, the assistant principal of the school.
“The condition of our school is unspeakably bad. It is unsustainable to work in during winter or summer, but we are forced to work,” said Laila Abdullah, a teacher at Berkot New School.
Nearly 950 students attend classes at the school in two separate sessions. Despite an eight-year-long wait for the completion of the new school, situated a mere 150 meters away from the caravans, educational authorities assert that there remains a lack of funding to complete its construction.
“We have many shortcomings. We want to teach the students better, but we can't, Dilzar Majeed, principal of the school, said.
Many of the 1,100 households in Berkot neighborhood have been compelled to transfer their children to alternative schools due to the dire state of the facility.