Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=5/3/03

TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT

TITLE=IRAQ / SCHOOLS

NUMBER=5-53749

BYLINE=LAURIE KASSMAN

DATELINE=BAGHDAD

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: U-S officials working on the reconstruction of Iraq called for schools to reopen Saturday, but not all were ready to receive students. Many schools were damaged during the war or during the days of looting that followed. Teachers are spending their first day trying to clean up the mess. V-O-A Correspondent Laurie Kassman visited some schools in Baghdad and files this report.

TEXT: /// CHILDREN'S LAUGHTER ///

The sound of children's laughter fills the courtyard of Amana Bent Whaab school.

Principal Khalida al Qubaisi says only about 20 students showed up when the school opened at eight in the morning, all dressed in the best clothes. Many parents are still afraid to let their children go off without them. But word spread quickly, and by mid-morning more than 100 had appeared.

/// QUBAISI IN ARABIC, FADE TO TRANSLATOR ///

I sent my assistants to the teachers to bring them to school. I sent my assistants also to the parents' houses to bring the children, and if it is important, I will go myself.

/// END ACT ///

Mrs. Qubaisi has been running the primary school for 14 years. Under Saddam Hussein, she says, her teachers were restricted in what they could talk about with the children.

/// QUBAISI/TRANSLATOR 2nd ACT ///

Even the compositions, we were obliged to give them certain titles, certain subjects about Saddam Hussein. Now, I held a meeting with the teachers, and told them to give the pupils very different titles and subjects -- whatever they want, to let them learn.

/// END ACT ///

The principal says that during Saddam's rule, she was careful not to complain even to her own staff.

/// QUBAISI/TRANSLATOR 3rd ACT ///

I wouldn't talk or speak, because I was afraid one of the teachers would be a spy, and if I said a word, he would convey this word to one of Saddam's regime. So, I was silent. All the time I was silent.

/// END ACT ///

No more. Mrs. Qubaisi says that, for her, the nightmare is over.

The first thing she did before school opened, she says, was to rip Saddam Hussein's picture from the first page of all her textbooks.

/// SOUND OF LAUGHTER, FADE TO CHILD'S VOICE AND TRANSLATOR ///

I am very happy to see my friends and to talk with them.

/// END ACT ///

Twelve-year-old Farah says she did not see any of her friends during the war, and is glad for their company again.

What do they talk about?

/// FARAH/TRANSLATOR ACT ///

We talk only about the war, the shooting, the bombing, the airplanes and the tanks, and where we hide.

/// END ACT ///

Farah wants to be a computer engineer. Under Saddam Hussein access to computers was very limited. Access to the Internet was banned.

/// SOUND OF GLASS BREAKING AND SWEEPING, AND FADE ///

The scene at Babel Secondary School For Girls is very different.

Teachers have spent the past 10 days cleaning up the mess left by looters, who stole most of the books, desks, air conditioners, bathroom sinks and toilets -- even the ceiling fans, doorknobs and light switches.

Principal Nuria Hatem is furious.

/// HATEM IN ARABIC, FADE TO TRANSLATOR ///

First of all, we can't get girls back to school, because the school is not safe yet. Also, the door was damaged and destroyed by a U-S tank.

/// END ACT ///

Mrs. Hatem says that what was not stolen was destroyed, including the science laboratory and its brand new equipment. Now, it is mostly rubble, with cracked glass test tubes and broken microscopes littering the floor.

/// HATEM 2nd ACT THRU TRANSLATOR ///

This is not a school. It's only a ruin.

/// END ACT ///

School files and student exam papers are strewn around the darkened hallway outside. The light fixtures are missing. So is the central power switch.

One parent asks if is safe for her 17-year-old daughter to return to school, as the principal has asked, to help clean it. She is afraid there may be weapons hidden inside, like other schools where Saddam's military had stockpiled ammunition.

/// ENGLISH ACT ///

Is it safe? Don't you think American forces must come and search the place before we bring our children? This is what I want. I can't let my daughter come here, and clean glass and these things, and I don't know what's in here. She's my eldest and my only girl. I'm not ready to sacrifice her here.

/// END ACT ///

/// SOUND OF SWEEPING AND CLEANING, FADE ///

Principal Nuria Hatem says she wants her young students to make a new start, but that will take more than sweeping up the past.

She says the education system must be revised and textbooks changed to correct the warped view of the world she says Saddam's regime imposed on Iraqis for generations. (Signed)

NEB/LMK/ALW/RH/TW