SEPTEMBER 2023

In addition, the establishment and
twenty-year operation of a school for
Jewish girls in Ottoman Baghdad at
the turn of the twentieth century was
an amazing adventure. The fact adds
depth and texture to our understanding
of the modernizing transformation
in education that took place on a global
scale between 1890 and 1930 in Iraq.
In 1920, the Chaldean community
opened Al-Tahira (“The Immaculate”)
school for boys in Baghdad. Christian
schools’ buildings were usually attached
to one of the old churches.
In 1924, an adventurous young
couple accepted a commission to open
an American school for boys in Baghdad.
Setting foot on Iraqi soil the very
day that the Constituent Assembly
convened in Baghdad to frame a constitution
for the new nation, Ida Staudt
and her husband Calvin witnessed the
birth of this fledgling country.
For the next twenty-three years,
they taught hundreds of young boys
whose ethnicity, religious background,
and economic status were as
varied as the region itself. Cultivating
strong bonds with their students
and their families, the Staudts were
welcomed into their lives and homes,
ranging from the royal palace to refugee
huts and Bedouin tents.
The School of the Presentation Sisters
in the heart of Baghdad’s Tahrir
Square (Eastern Gate) was established
in 1925 when King Faisal I donated a
piece of land to a group of French nuns
in exchange for their efforts in combating
the plague that was spreading in
Baghdad. It was called Progressive Sisters
School until 1964 when the government
nationalized the private schools
and changed the name of the school to
Al-Aqidah Secondary School for Girls.
The Shamash Jewish High School
in Baghdad, an all-boys school, was
founded in 1928. It was like an oasis
in the desert; it was funded by the
Shamash family of Manchester, England
who donated the building and
with it 17 stores, a pharmacy, and a
guest house/hotel for travelers. The
curriculum included Turkish and other
foreign languages with an emphasis
on English. It was governed by its
own committee which was headed by
Shlomo Saleh Shamash.
In the beginning, this school was
also an elementary and middle school
but in 1942, the elementary classes
From top: Al-Tahira Primary School in Baghdad (est. 1920) students and teaching staff; Al-Tahira staff c. 1957 (middle
pictures); Basrah Chaldean School Communion celebration with nuns and clergy.
concluded and in 1949 the middle
school closed. The students transferred
to Frank Iny School, leaving
only the high school.
Although many Jewish schools had
once operated in Iraq, often with the
support of the local Jewish community,
Iraqi government, or international
Jewish organizations in Paris and London,
these schools began to close in
the 1940s. The Frank Iny School was
the last Jewish school in Baghdad, but
eventually closed in 1973 as most of
the remaining Jews fled the country.
Baghdad College
In 1932, the same year that Iraq gained
its independence, four Jesuits from
the United States arrived in Baghdad
and established Baghdad College High
School. During its first two years, the
school rented two houses in the center
of Baghdad near the river. Not particularly
well-constructed, the classroom
floors were of rough, uneven brick.
One historical description labeled it
“too small, the light not so good, windows
and doors were ill fitting and
when a dust storm came up, the atmosphere
was not pleasant.”
In its first year, 375 boys applied
and 120 were accepted, dropping to
107 by the year’s end. Students ranged
from 13 to 20 years old; the average
student was about 15. In the begin-
EDUCATION continued on page 34
SEPTEMBER 2023 CHALDEAN NEWS 33