Iraq

In striving to achieve its intended goals of eradicating illiteracy and reaching out to urban and rural women, the Iraqi government has embraced a variety of methods. Programs specifically geared to women include labor education, health education, and agricultural training. In 1994, a program jointly administered by UNICEF and the educational ministry was implemented to educate 7,000 girls in reading, writing, arithmetic, sewing, and health issues. This program especially targets girls who have dropped out of formal schooling and exceeded its aim with an enrollment of 7,768 in the year of its inception. During the summer of 1995, a seasonal program enrolled 4,245 students in the first session and 3,077 in the second.

The educational ministry has also expanded vocational training through private institutes, allowing Iraqi students such options as printing, tailoring, and hairstyling; the Ministry of Education supervises these training programs. It has provided additional programs for slower learners, adult education classes, and even summer activities for students. In addition, professional syndicates participate in the process of nonformal education.

Distance Education: The Ministry of Education's General Directorate produces various materials for use inside and outside the classroom, including cassette tapes, colorful visual aids, and flashcards for language learning. Cassettes are also used to teach mathematics and reading at all levels. These materials are distributed to Literacy Centers, spread throughout the country, for use in Arabic and English language projects. The government makes use of these materials in nonformal settings, such as distributing these materials to drivers in Baghdad and to rural women in the countryside, with the aim of reaching a broad spectrum of Iraqi society. Cassettes and teaching materials are specifically aimed at the lowest classes, those that experience the highest level of dropout, or wastage. They are designed to provide workers, women, peasants, and military personnel with additional educational opportunity, specifically via exercises and lessons that can be done after the workday has finished. These methods foster teamwork among adult students, who are encouraged to review their work with others, especially their children and families. For this reason, the cassette and visual aid system has been most effective with regard to Iraqi women.

The education ministry sponsors a variety of educational television programs across a range of instructional levels. In 1977, a children's show called Simsim (sesame) was introduced in order to provide children too young to attend school a means of preparation for formal education, much like the American show Sesame Street. It presents reading, mathematics, and cultural material in an entertaining and lighthearted manner for a preschool audience. In 1997, Iraq devoted renewed energy to this method of teaching and exposure. Mathematics, reading, and culture are taught through programs that are broadcast twice a week to ensure the widest possible audience.