Iraq sets foundation stone of building 1000 schools across country

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi on Saturday set the foundation stone of a project to build 1000 schools across all Iraqi provinces.

The project of building the schools will be carried out by the Chinese state owned company PowerChina.

“This project includes the construction of 1000 schools, and it will include all governorates of Iraq, and we will follow up on the project and work within the timetable for its implementation,” Prime Minister Kadhimi said during the ceremony.

“This strategic project is important for building society and developing our generations towards building leaders to serve Iraq in the future,” he added.

Kurdistan Region's education ministry late Saturday congratulated the Iraqi government for the new project, criticizing the move of excluding the Region from building the 150 schools it has previously said it needs. 

"We express our concern and dissatisfaction with the decision to cut off the share of the Kurdish people and deprive them of this natural right, and we call on the Federal Iraqi Government to view education as a fundamental right for all Iraqis  and reverse the decision and provide the share of the Kurdistan Region," the ministry said in a statement. 

The schools in the Region host more than 180,000 internally displaced people who fled their homes in the emergence of the Islamic State in 2014. 

The project is not the only project PowerChina is undertaking in Iraq.

The company is also working closely with the autonomous Kurdistan Region.

Deputy Chief of Staff to the Kurdistan Region Prime Minister, Aziz Ahmad on Saturday said that the company has already signed an MoU with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to “explore four major hydropower dams  — Bakirman, Mandawa, Khewata and Dalga.” 

He added that a proposal has already been submitted for the Mandawa dam, and review is under way.

“This is a priority project for the Prime Minister. Clean energy, agriculture, water management and power has been central to the government agenda,” he added.