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CULTURE & HISTORY EDUCATION continued from page 33 ning, there were nine faculty for the 107 students, including four Jesuits and five Iraqis. Over the years, Baghdad College grew to include over 1,000 students and a faculty of 33 Jesuits and 31 Iraqi laymen. The growth was not easy or painless. The centuries of antagonism between Islam and Christianity and the long hostility between East and West left scars on the Iraqis. From the early days, Baghdad College followed Iraqi school programs and the Jesuits avoided bringing American curriculum to Iraq. They did offer their students a distinct advantage – bilingualism in Arabic and English. For many students, this was the first time they saw real blackboards, history maps, hygiene charts, projectors, movie machines, and individual armchair seats. In the eyes of their Jesuit teachers, the boys completely won their hearts. Students learned science and mathematics in English and Arabic. They were prepared to take the final government exams in Arabic and to pursue further scientific study at Baghdad University in English. Several were judged competent by the government to study abroad in the U.S. and Great Britain. During the four decades following independence, both the Jesuit mission and the country matured. In just 37 years, Iraq’s population expanded from 3.5 million to 8.5 million while the Jesuit population grew from four to 61. Iraq’s secondary school grew in enrollment from 2,076 Iraqi students in three schools to 270,000 in 840 schools while the enrollment in the Jesuit schools increased from 120 students in a few rented houses to 1,100 students in nine buildings at Baghdad College. In 1952, a university named Al-Hikma (“wisdom”) was established by the Jesuits. Revolution Iraq’s public and private education started shifting after the 1958 coup that overthrew the constitutional, prowestern monarchy. It has been in decline ever since, with competing philosophies about testing and methods falling in and out of favor. Meanwhile, the Jesuit education of 1932-1958 and during the turbulent years 1959-1968 maintained its consistent stance based on faith and integrity, educational rigor, and character building. The revolution of 1958 and each succeeding revolution was a crisis of sorts. For a time, it seemed that the Jesuits would weather this crisis as they had previously. School and work went Clockwise from top of page: St. Joseph students, clergy, nuns and staff at a Communion event in Baghdad; Armenian United School in Baghdad; Sixth grade graduation certificate for Olivia Yousif Yacoub from Frank Iny Jewish School dated 1970; Young Iraqi students in Bartella, Nineveh Province. on for another year until a new revolution brought to power a socialist government more interested in controlling all private education. The government decreed that it would administer AI-Hikma while the Jesuits continued to teach. The Jesuits accepted the proposal and attempted to work in the new framework for a few months until an extremist element in the government decreed their expulsion from Iraq in November 1968. A year later the American Jesuits at Baghdad College were ordered to leave by the same group. Current Status Education in Iraq is highly centralized, and state controlled. The state fully finances all aspects of public education such as supplying books, teaching aids and free student residences. Arabic is used as the primary language of instruction at all institutions, although Kurdish is taught in Kurdish areas. Pre-school education lasts for a duration of two years and is open to children at four years old; primary education is six years in duration and EDUCATION continued on page 45 34 CHALDEAN NEWS SEPTEMBER 2023
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