QAYYARAH, Iraq — Sabine speaks deliberately, elevating her voice above those of her pupils at a tented school in Northern Iraq. The 13-year-old wants to talk about why she wasn’t in class the past two years. The Islamic State took over her home village of Talabta in 2014. They occupied the school, threw out the Iraqi curriculum, and instituted their own. Sabine was in 6th grade at the time. She’s still in 6th grade now.
“They came with their own books that were all about the Islamic things,” she said. “There was no science, there was no math. Only Islam, Islam. We are Muslims too, but not everything in school is about Islam.”
Sabine is one of the several thousand children attending classes at a temporary learning space run by Save the Children. She likes lessons about English because it’s a new language and she’s waiting for a new life. Some 3 million Iraqi children like her have seen their education impacted by the ongoing conflict, said Save the Children Country Director Aram Shakaram.
About the author
Elizabeth Dickinson@dickinsonbeth
Elizabeth Dickinson is a former associate editor at Devex. Based in the Middle East, she has previously served as Gulf correspondent for The National, assistant managing editor at Foreign Policy, and Nigeria correspondent at The Economist. Her writing also appeared in The New Yorker, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Politico Magazine, and Newsweek, among others.