Private Schools in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq

Front matter

AO Schriften aus der Fakultät Humanwissenschaften der Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg

Hishyar Hassun

40 Schriften aus der Fakultät der Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg

Table of Contents

Ib ipei RR v Abstract تا هو سح اد و زگ‎ EEEE vii Acknowledgements اما اه ههام هزم هم ما‎ sed نمی فا‎ evi ee و هه کم‎ SEE Sen ix List OF Table PTT" """—— ÁÀ————— xiv List: öf Fipures ae RA وه‎ idees ی‎ T xv List of Abbreviations REP xvi Chapter sese esses 1 Introduchon.s a RR S T 1 1.1 Statement of the Problem. „aussehen 1 1.2. Purpose of the Studyo 4 1:3 Research Qüestions. uncut ماو امد و‎ ahnen 5 1:4 Outline of the Study... scie DERE REO a 5 Chapter ZS eben E a TUR etie e istud natae n tI oiu edis 7 laterature Review... 2a deren a ca ae ase cee tae کی دک‎ eo eal eas 7 2.1.1 The education system in the KBL, a... 8 2.1.2 Financing education in the KRI ار مهف‎ erunt وب‎ ends 11 2.1.3 Challenges in the education sector in the KRL eee etti ann 12 2.2.1 Functions as a theoretical Approach uses 16 2.2.2 Different functions of schools ah ee ی‎ NOM SA cette 19 2.3.1 The increase of private selioollHga un و‎ Re ar Aio t bett 25 2.3.2: Types of private SCHOO HN; enthielt 26 2:3 Bi School CHOICE o oye tab peut ete a E a tute an 31 Chaptef ISSA AAS SS Restraint 37 Methodology and Methods ۶ و ما ام موم موم وتو موم وم ومع مومس مومع مومع موی‎ 37 3:2:1 Mapping the و و وا ها‎ ke 41

3.3 The Parents Choice... an

3.3.1 Theoretical background and instrumentation of the questionnaire

Chapter 1 Introduction

After the Kurdish revolution in Iraq in 1991 and the subsequent establishment of an autonomous government officially called the Kurdistan Region of Iraq in 1992 (henceforth KRI), there have been attempts to change and adapt a new education system, aligned with the Kurdish aspirations for enabling people to achieve democratic values, economic development and societal welfare (Sindi, 2013). Attempts have also been made to transfer the education system from Arabic to Kurdish language!. However, since the 1990s, the Kurdistan Regional Government (henceforth the KRG) has faced many challenges in developing the education system, such as the lack of qualified teachers, the paucity of schools with good facilities and a curriculum that does not meet the demands of the 21* century (Jamal, 2008; Jukil, 2013). Many of these issues are a consequence of the years of isolation under the Gulf War? sanctions. One of the reactions to these challenges of the KRG was to allow private schooling in the region. This was meant to increase civil engagement in education, experiment with novel forms of financing education and providing outstanding quality of education.

1.1 Statement of the Problem

Throughout recent history, Kurdish people in Iraq were forced to accept an educational system which was not in their mother tongue but in Arabic. However, the day they started to have an education system in Kurdish language after the Kurdish revolution in 1991, private schools have slowly begun to provide education mostly in English. This means that new and different education systems are currently taking part in shaping the future of the KRI. To date, no research has been carried out to address the way private schools are developing in the KRI and to assess their objectives for the Kurdish society. The education policy makers in the KRI have limited data to provide enough information about private schools (Vernez, et al., 2016). It is the objective of this study to show, through empirical data, the development of private schools in the KRI, and to analyse the profiles of private school providers and to find out which factors are considered in choosing private schools. Different school providers and school types could serve different functions of schools in a vulnerable and culturally hybrid region.

! Kurdish language is spoken in the north of Iraq and is the official language in KRI.

* The Gulf War was a war waged by a coalition led by the United States (under the authorization of the United Nations) against Iraq as a response to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait on August 2 1990 (Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopedia, 2021).

Non-state education actors have been increasingly involved at all levels of the educational system in the KRI, from kindergartens to higher education (Vernez, et al, 2014). The total number of basic? and secondary private schools in the KRI has reached 144 in the academic year of 2017-2018. This includes 88 private schools in Erbil, 33 schools in Sulaymaniyah, 18 in Duhok city, four in the Garmian district, and one school in Halabja (MOE database, 2018). These private schools are owned by different educational companies and institutions, which some are local while others are international (Jukil, 2013). Also, different types of private schools implement different education systems.

Public schools are owned, run, and financed by the government or the state and are free of charge (Thapa, 2013; Moumne & Saudemont, 2015). Non-state schools or what is called private schools, on the other hand, are difficult to be define. Scheunpflug and Wenz (2015) state that there is no one clear definition of the private schools on the international level. Instead, the financing of education, legal status and the owner of the school has to be taken into consideration in giving any specific label to private schools. Day Ashley et al. (2014, p. 4) define private schools as *dependent on user fees to cover all or part of their operational and development costs and managed largely independently of the state and are owned and/or founded independently of the state". This definition makes it clear that private schools are based on three factors. Firstly, private schools charge fees to secure the financial expenditures of the school. Secondly, private school are managed independently from the state. Being founded or owned outside of the state body is the third factor.

However, Moumne & Saudemont (2015) give a broader definition of private schools. They state that private schools can be managed by any type of non-governmental state organization, such as a church, trade union, private institutions or an organization in the businesses sectors. Such private schools could be either state-independent or state-dependent and exist in different forms, such as philanthropic, for-profit, low fee or not for-profit. They also define another type of private school, which is called public private partnership (PPP). This type of private school is related to the state based on some mutual agreement between a private agency and the state on the financing and management of the school.

Mounme & Saudemont's definition differs from Day Ashley's (and many others) by allowing the possibility of private schools being free of charge. However, a consensus emerges from both definitions that private schools are owned and managed largely independently from the state (even though they can be financed by the state).

? Basic education in the KRI corresponds to primary and intermediate education, which covers 1۶9۳ years of schooling.

In general, three forms of private schooling exist world-wide. On one hand, there are schools where only the governance of the school is non-state but the state still covers the costs, as well as schools where governance and finances are non-state (Toma, 2005). The third type is a “mixed model”, where a private school receives less than 5096 of their funding from government agencies as it is the case in some OECD countries (Koinzer et al., 2017). In the KRI, the majority of private schools are non-state governed and do not get financial assistance from the state. They are largely financed by the students' parents.

This increase of private schooling in KRI seems to be related to a world-wide development in private schooling (Aga Khan Foundation, 2007; Tulloch et al., 2014; Steer et al., 2015). In non-industrialized countries, the development of private schooling has constantly appeared in the discourse in the last decade. The reasons for increasing private schools vary from one country to another. For instance, countries that have financial problems and an increase in student enrolment are under pressure to cope with providing good quality of education — this is the case in South Asia (Aslam & Atherton, 2012). This could be a reason why there is more demand for private sector to be as an alternative for presenting good quality education (Boncana, 2012). Bhatta and Budathoki (2013) state that in terms of teaching quality and learning, private schools are more successful than public schools and they are universally considered a better choice of schooling. It is argued that private schools have created an impression that they are better than the public schools and consequently students who attend these private schools will have more opportunities later in life (Coulson, 2009). In Ghana for example, Aziabah (2017) has found that private schools that depend on fees and are to a great extent managed independently of the state outperform public schools in national assessment tests. However, a study conducted by Zeitlyn et al. (2015) has revealed that for-profit but cheap secondary private schools in Malawi suffer from having poorly qualified teachers, few learning materials and teaching facilities, and that they do not meet the minimum standards. This could be an indication that some low-cost private schools in developing countries might not offer a high quality of education. Sindi (2011) states that despite the private education in KRI helping to reduce some pressure on the KRG concerning the absorption of a high number of students in basic and secondary schools, especially in urban areas, private schools face many obstacles, such as a lack of educational facilities and supplies. He argues that many students who graduate from private schools in the KRI are not as qualified as they are promised to be at enrolment. However, he has not shown empirically how he has reached such conclusions. In general, high-cost private schools are found to outperform public schools, while the performance of low-cost private schools varies from remarkable to terrible compared to public schools in some developing countries (Aga Khan Foundation, 2007).

There is a gap in literature about the development of private schools in the KRI and the changes that this development brings to the region, which has gone through several political conflicts in recent history. Despite the fact that basic education in the KRI is free and public schools are available to all even in rural areas, private schools are found to be developing in the KRI and the number of enrolments is increasing. This study attempts to explore the development of private schools in KRI in order to understand why their numbers are increasing and which factors are behind this development. These questions have been raised after observing that many parents are attracted to choose private schools instead of choosing public schools for their children. The profiles of private education providers in KRI and the types of schools they offer are also unknown to the Kurdish community, as well as to the international research community. These questions have not yet been answered due to the absence of academic studies on private schools and non-state educational actors in the KRI. Within this study, the types of private schools in the Kurdistan Region will be analysed and compared to the worldwide developments in private schooling. Furthermore, this study will also tackle the factors affecting parents' choice of private schools (despite their high cost in comparison with private schools in the other parts of the world, especially in other developing countries). The development of private schools in the KRI will be described and investigated to show whether the private sector gives what it promises in providing good quality of education to the Kurdish society* based on parents’ points of view.

1.2 Purpose of the Study

The aim of this study is to give a broad overview of the development of private schools in the KRI by creating a database about the numbers and distributions of the private schools all over the Kurdistan region. The study explores the profiles of the private school providers in order to understand who they are and what they want to accomplish, as well as what types of private schools they offer to the Kurdish society. The study also investigates how the private sector contributes to provide education and which strata of society it services.

One of the main aims of this study is to describe the factors affecting the parental choice of private schools in the KRI, based on data analysis, and to discuss this phenomenon in relation to a worldwide trend. The study also attempts to describe the functions of private schools in the Kurdish society.

^ Kurdish Society means all the people living in the KRI. It does not mean only Kurdish people but also includes other minorities that they don't necessary consider themselves Kurds, such as Christians in KRI.

1.3 Research Questions

Based on the understanding of the situation in the KRI and the international discourse on private schooling, the following research questions will be investigated:

e How does the increase of private schooling in the KRI look like? How are the private school providers' profiles characterized? What are the types of private schools in the KRI, and which type is dominant?

e What are the factors that influence the growing attractiveness of private schools to parents? What functions do private schools in the KRI fulfil in the Kurdish society?

To the best of our knowledge, no research has been conducted about private schools in the KRI. It is hoped that this study will spark a debate and open doors for more questions to be investigated about the private education phenomenon in the KRI.

1.4 Outline of the Study

This study is developed into six chapters. Chapter one introduces the readers to a brief history of the development of private schools in the KRI and where they are located. It states the problem of the study and shows the purpose of the study.

Chapter two begins with an introduction to the education system in the KRI, highlighting some of the challenges faced by the education system in the KRI, particularly in terms of the language of instruction challenge. It also gives a general background in the history and geography of the KRI. In this chapter, the relationship between educational institutions and the society is discussed, with a particular focus on how schools are related to the society and what functions they fulfil. Then, the development of private school around the world is described, with a more precise focus on the increase of private schools in developing countries. Finally, international discourse concerning the global growth of the private schools is presented, with a focus on increasing numbers of private schools, different types of private schools, and the factors of choosing private schools.

Chapter three presents the methodology used in order to answer the current research questions outlined. Quantitative method, employed to build a database with information about the numbers and types of private schools in the KRI, are explained, alongside the design of the questionnaire used to find out the factors influencing parental choices of private schooling (for more details see 3.3). Another problem of this study is investigating the private school providers' profiles, which requires the adoption of a qualitative method, also explained and described in this chapter. The reason for using the qualitative method is clarified and all the procedures that are followed concerning this study method are documented. Finally, mixed methods is utilized to answer the question of how different schools types and private school providers serve different functions. The need for using the mixed methods to answer which functions private schools serve is justified and the type of the mixed methods that is used in this study is described.

Chapter four begins by demonstrating the development of private schools in the KRI, based on the collected data. The chapter then focuses on describing the profiles of private school providers in KRI by analysing three main aspects of each provider: the types of schools they offer, the educational models they follow, and the goals that they want to achieve for the Kurdish society. The chapter ends with an analysis of the different types of private schools present in the KRI, which shows which type is more dominant.

Chapter five presents an analysis of the data collected from the questionnaire in order to find out the factors affecting the choice of private schools in the KRI. Two analyses that have been performed on the data are described, primary and secondary. The primary analysis of the questionnaire is the main analysis that attempts to find out the factors of private school choice in the KRI.

Chapter six is the final chapter of this study. It presents the results of the study in three summaries about private schools, private school choice and the functions of private school in the KRI. The study ends with a conclusion, followed by a brief discussion of the study's implications and some recommendations both for the academic community and for the general public.

Chapter 2 Literature Review

This chapter will first provide an overview of the education system in the KRI and then will describe the relationship between this system and the society in general. This will be followed by a discussion on how the education system in the KRI is financed and what challenges it faces. In order to elucidate how private schools function in society, the social roles they fulfil and the differences between such roles are discussed, providing a theoretical background to the data-based discussion which follows. Then, the chapter explores the international discourse on private schooling. The recent increase in the number of private schools, their types and school choice systems are discussed thoroughly. At the end of this chapter, the need for research on the functions of private schools in the KRI will be discussed and the research questions of this study will be presented.

2.1 Education in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq

Before describing the development of private schools in Kurdish society, it is important to provide some details about the KRI, the education system there, and the challenges that have faced the education sector since the establishment of the KRI until recent years.

The Kurdistan Region of Iraq is an autonomous region located in the north of Iraq. It comprises three major cities: Erbil (the regional capital), Duhok, and Sulaymaniyah,. Kurdistan lies at the mountainous transition belt, with the Taurus and Zagros Mountains forming an arc encircling the Mesopotamian region (Stansfield, 2003). The Kurdistan Region of Iraq covers approximately 78 736 km2, making up some 1896 of the total surface area of Iraq (Brayeti Center, 1999 as cited in Mawlood, 2011). The estimate of the population of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq is about 5.3 million inhabitants (Hedad et al., 2009 as cited in Mawlood, 2011).

Meho and Maglaughlin (2001) state that when Britain decided to create the state of Iraq during World War I, the plan was to unite the two provinces of Baghdad and Basra. However, after the discovery of oil around Mosul (a predominantly Kurdish province), Britain changed the plan and wanted to incorporate Mosul into the new state of Iraq. The British were aware that the population of Mosul was mainly Kurdish, so they decided to set up one or more semi- autonomous Kurdish provinces to be loosely attached to the state of Iraq. However, Kurdish people were against incorporation into Iraq, which led to a direct confrontation with the British authorities. From 1919 to the mid-1940s, there were a number of Kurdish rebellions against Britain and the Iraqi regime, aimed at achieving independence of the Kurds in Iraq, led by Sheikh Mahmud Barzinji, Sheikh Ahmed and Mulla Mustafa Barzany (Meho & Maglaughlin, 2001).

The KRI, as an autonomous region, first came to exist in 1970, when an agreement was signed between the Iraqi government and the Kurdish opposition. The agreement failed for several reasons. The government's true instincts were to centralize. Autonomy was a temporary ploy, while the central government in Baghdad waited to gain enough strength to impose direct control (McDowall, 2004). However, after the Kurdish uprising of 1991, Kurdish people have formed the autonomous region in the north of Iraq and it was formally recognized in 2005 by the new constitution established in Iraq.

Regarding religion, the majority of the people in the Kurdistan Region are Sunni Muslims, mainly of the Shafi'i school. There are also many Christians of different denominations, estimated at around 245,000. Around 6596 of these are Chaldeans, 2096 are members of the Assyrian Church of the East, and 1096 are members of the Syriac Catholic Church and the Syriac Orthodox Church. There is also a community of about 3000 Armenians who, along with some other even smaller groups, constitute the remainder of the Christians living in the KRI. Additionally, about 550,000 Yazidis live in the region. In the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, people are free to practice their religion.

2.1.1 The education system in the KRI

Before the 1990s, the education system in the KRI was a part of the Iraqi system. It was divided into three levels: primary, intermediate, and secondary. Education was compulsory from grade one up to grade six. In general, the quality of education suffered during the 1980s because of the war between Iraq and Iran. Under the rule of the previous regime in Iraq, public funds were moved away from the educational to the military sector (UNESCO Iraq, 2011). The former sector suffered more after the economic sanctions imposed on Iraq in the 1990s following the Gulf War. This led to a decline in the quality of education; as a result, 80% of the schools needed to be rehabilitated. Teaching quality and conditions became very bad, as school enrolment and literacy decreased (UNESCO Iraq, 2011; UNICEF, 2017).

After the Kurdish uprising of 1991 and the formation of an autonomous regional government that followed, the KRG attempted to change and adapt a new educational system to cope up with the new changes in the region in the 21* century (Akrawi, 2011). In general, one can say that the education system in the KRI has been broadly established since 1990 (Overview Education, 2014). The Kurdistan Regional Government faced many challenges in the education sector since its inception, such as the lack of qualified teachers, lack of schools available to absorb the increase in student enrolment in both primary and secondary schools. The students were held back for a long time by the outdated teaching methods used by teachers and by poor facilities (Nechirvan Barzani, 2008). These problems were the results of the previous, Iraqi government's educational policies. Therefore, there was a need for a new educational system.

Two ministries are responsible for providing education in the KRI, both established after the formation of the KRG. The basic and secondary education are administered by the Ministry of Education (henceforth MOE), while the higher education is administered by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research (Overview Education, 2014). The education system in the KRI is highly controlled by the MOE, since the Ministry is responsible for making all the major decisions and polices that are related to all parts of public education, as well as for regulating private education. The MOE has 12 general directorates of education, which are responsible for running educational establishments at the district level. There are 26 districts in the cities of Duhok, Erbil, Sulaymaniyah, and Kirkuk. All the general directorates must implement the educational polices related to kindergarten, basic and secondary education, preparatory and vocational education, curricula, buildings, supervision, teacher training, student examination and evaluation, and sports and arts activities. There are also two general directorates for minorities in the KRI, one for Turkmen education and the other for Assyrian education (Vernez et al., 2014).

There are approximately 165,000 employees working for the MOE, and most of them are teachers and principals. This number constitutes 2496 of the workforce in the KRI. The number of students exceeds 1.65 million. The number of employees and students together make the MOE the largest ministry in the KRG and represents nearly 40% of the population of the KRI (Khalid, 2014) (estimated to be about 5.4 million Kurds according to Institute Kurde De Paris Foundation) (2017).

The number of students continues to increase, as there are new students enrolling in the schools each year (Khalid, 2014). Table 1 shows the total number of students in basic and secondary schools. The numbers show that the KRG faces many challenges, such as finding adequate funding and providing facilities for the increasing number of students.

Table 1: Scope of Education System

Scope of Education System in KRI Numbers of Students 2008-2009 2015-2016 Total Number of Students 1,284,186 1,517,729 Total Number of Teachers 86,580 126,112 Total number of Schools 5,323 6,799

Source: MOE in KRI

Before 1992, Arabic was the official language in the region and it was the language of instruction in the majority of schools. After the establishment of the KRI in 1992, Kurdish was proclaimed the official language of the region (Haig, 2007). Thus, changing the language of instruction in schools from Arabic to Kurdish was the first step the KRG took to reform the old education system. The process of changing the language of instruction in schools began from grade one and gradually expanded until students from all grades were instructed in the Kurdish language.

After 2007, the KRG started adapting a new education system from kindergarten through grade 12 (K-12) in an attempt to modernize the old education system. The KRI witnessed stability and economic growth from new resources, such as energy renewals, after years of isolation from the world under economic sanctions. In such a new environment, the KRG felt the need for reforming the education system as the education curriculum was outdated, schools were very crowded, the number of students' enrolment was increasing, and there was a need for more teachers, especially in certain subjects such as mathematic and English (Vernez et al., 2014). Khalid (in Overview Education, 2014, p. 171) explains that “The KRG as a whole has begun to believe that education must be the first step for any future growth within the Kurdistan Region". In 2007, the MOE held a conference and invited more than 500 local and foreign education experts to discuss ideas for reforming the education system in the KRI. The conference ended with certain recommendations to change the education system and resulted in the following reforms:

e Education made compulsory from grade 6 until grade 9. e A new, more rigorous curriculum was implemented across all grades.

e The system was restructured into two levels: basic education from grades (1-9) and secondary education from grades (10-12).

e New teachers were required to complete higher levels of education (bachelor's degrees) to be qualified to teach in schools.

e New polices were implemented to reduce the rate of failing in the early stages of schooling.

All the changes in the education system were introduced in the following academic year (2008-2009), except adapting the new curriculum, which was introduced gradually (Vernez et al., 2014). Thus, the system was restructured into the basic education and secondary level instead of the old three levels (primary, intermediate, and secondary). Now, the educational stages consist of 2 years of pre-school education for children aged 4-5 (not compulsory); 9 years of compulsory basic education for the ages 6-14; and 3 years of secondary school for the 15-17-year-olds. In addition, students can attend some vocational secondary education after finishing their basic education, for instance at industrial and computer institutes. Table (2) shows the education ladder in the KRI.

Table 2: Education System Ladder in KRI

KRI Education System Ladder

Official entry age 4, 2 years, noncompulsory Official entry age 6, Grades 1-9, compulsory, free of charge Theoretical entry age 15, 3 years, noncompulsory

Pre-primary education Basic-education

Upper-secondary education

University and Higher education 4 to 5 years

Source: UNESCO Iraq, 2011 2.1.2 Financing education in the KRI

The education sector is funded by the KRG, from public basic to secondary schools. Parents do not pay any fees for their children's schooling. As mentioned above, there are 12 general directorates of education, which are responsible for dealing with all educational issues in each district of the KRI. Each of the general directorates at the district level first prepares its budget and sends it to the MOE. The MOE makes an overall budget proposal for the educational expenditures and sends it to the Ministry of Finance, which then allocates the budget (Vernez et al., 2014).

The education sector in the KRI has expanded dramatically in recent years. This required more funding resources to be allocated to the education sector. Khalid (in Overview Education, 2014, p. 171) states that “We are trying to approach education from a variety of different perspectives, as well as by subsidising it to the greatest extent possible". Increasing the funding for education in the KRI is very important, since the number of students continues to increase. In 2013, the KRG allocated 16% of its annual budget for the education and higher education sectors, giving the education sector the biggest share of the region's budget. The KRG has expended a total of 668 million US dollars on the education sector between the years of 2006-2013. By allocating such a budget, the KRG aims to develop a well-educated population in the Region that is capable of developing the economic growth (Overview Education, 2014, p. 167). However, the KRG's plans for improving the education sector faced substantial challenges after 2014 due to the war with ISIS.

2.1.3 Challenges in the education sector in the KRI

The KRG has faced many challenges to develop the education sector since its establishment in 1992. All the important economic sectors in the KRI were affected by the polices implement by the Iraqi government before autonomy. The infrastructure, agriculture, health and educations sectors were all left undeveloped (Fattah, 2008). The following section describes some of the challenges facing the education sector.