Mahmoud Darwish once said: “Yesterday we lacked freedom, today we lack love… and I fear tomorrow, because we will lack humanity.”
The enemies of Iraq exploit the diversity of the social spectrum in the country to create division, hatred, and resentment among the components of the Iraqi people. In the past, schools, in addition to compulsory military service, played a major role in strengthening the sense of citizenship and unity among social groups and preventing discrimination. Today, under the new reality, we must find effective ways to unify common values, reduce differences, and bridge the gaps among أبناء الوطن (sons of the nation), using methods that prevent discrimination among different ethnicities, sects, and religions—especially within the educational environment for our children at the primary, intermediate, and secondary levels.
Accordingly, we propose the following:
First:
Educators should work on developing new curricula based on good morals and positive behaviors—values shared by all religions and nationalities. These curricula should be adopted in all primary schools for the new generation aged (7–13) and promoted by civil society organizations. They should be considered core subjects, no less important than scientific and literary curricula.
These curricula should focus on respect for laws and regulations, care for the environment, cleanliness, love of الوطن (the homeland), respect for people with disabilities and the elderly, compassion toward children, and other public morals and behaviors.
The proposed book would be a national curriculum adopted by all schools in Iraq. It is suitable for all sects and ethnicities and is consistent with all divine religions and the traditions and customs recognized in Iraq.
Second:
Promote and raise awareness of the principle of social solidarity by inviting companies and civil society organizations to sponsor primary school students in the poorest areas of Iraq by providing basic food items such as milk, biscuits, and similar supplies, even if only once a week. There is no harm in using the media to promote these campaigns, even if donating companies benefit from publicity for their products.
Third:
Involve primary and secondary school students, along with some of their teachers and in cooperation with the General Traffic Directorate, in traffic regulation and respect for traffic signals. This would begin with theoretical awareness sessions, followed by practical application through participation in the streets with teachers and traffic police, which will motivate them to respect laws and regulations.
Fourth:
Organize monthly campaigns for intermediate and secondary school students to distribute garbage bags to citizens at street intersections, in cooperation with Baghdad Municipality, local councils, and civil society organizations, to encourage cleanliness and environmental protection. There is no harm in printing promotional and advertising material for companies willing to donate and participate in these campaigns.
Fifth:
Adopt a compulsory lesson alongside the main subjects, for example titled after the Prophetic saying “Cleanliness is part of faith”, in all schools. Through this lesson, students would clean their schools themselves under the supervision of the teaching staff. This will positively affect the health of students and staff, as well as social values, and will directly reflect on students’ cleanliness in their homes and personal belongings.
Sixth:
Reinstate scouting activities with modern methods and behaviors that align with the humanitarian and national principles of the new Iraq, as a voluntary, educational, تربوي (educational), and sports-based initiative that is non-political and far removed from any form of discrimination based on students’ affiliations.
This initiative will provide:
- Teaching students discipline and commitment.
- Promoting cooperation and social harmony.
- Encouraging self-reliance and increasing self-confidence.
- Fostering love for physical activity, which in turn improves students’ health.
This will be achieved through extracurricular activities that strengthen bonds among students from (all components of society) in primary and intermediate schools. A scout should be: honest, helpful, friendly, polite, kind to living beings, obedient, resilient, thrifty, and clean.
This can be implemented through the following activities:
- Group trips to various regions of Iraq, such as tourist areas, the marshes, ports, museums, and others.
- Health awareness courses among students.
- Contributing to youth development by utilizing their physical and social capacities to build them spiritually and make them responsible individuals and useful members of their المجتمع (society).
With appreciation,
Engineer / Qais Hamid Al-Wazzan
