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The invasion, Bush, Saddam, Baath and sectarian violence are taboos in textbooks and class discussions. (Reuters) |
BAGHDAD — Jamil Haydan gets confused whenever he goes through the history of Iraq in the school books.
"I feel like there is a gap in the history, specially recent events," the 14-year-old student at a Baghdad school told IslamOnline.net.
"We are treated as if we are unable to know what happens in Iraq, but we are."
The history of the Arab country since the 2003 US-led invasion is completely absent from school textbooks.
American troops, George W. Bush and the sectarian violence that plagued the country for years after the invasion are non-existent whether in books or even class discussions.
Former president Saddam Hussein, who was ousted by the US and later executed by the Iraqi government, and his longtime ruling Baath party are taboos.
The government admits that banning certain chapters of Iraq's recent history from textbooks is deliberate.
"Even in religion classes, teachers are forbidden to differentiate between Sunnis and Shiites and just talk about topics that are generalized," Ahmed Ibrahim, a senior Ministry of Education official, told IOL.
He argues that such recent episodes of history are too delicate to fit in the classrooms.
"We are talking about classrooms that have Kurds, Sunnis, Shiites, Christians and other minorities," says Ibrahim.
"Talking about recent issues with students will just make some of them feel different.
"If you talk about resistance, you might attack Sunnis, if you talk about militias fighting in south, you might be attacking Shiites, if you talk about minorities in northern Iraq, Kurds won't be happy to hear some facts."
Risky
Some believe denying students access to the recent history could be the way to shield them from trauma.
"Why keep talking about topics that marked students' past with suffering, pain and loss?" Hana’a Ahmed al-Kudari, a primary school teacher in Baghdad's Mansour district, tells IOL.
"Why keep reminding them with the why their parents or relatives were killed?"
Ibrahim, the Education Ministry official, agrees.
"It will just make them more traumatized than they already are."
However, many fear that hiding history would rather leave the students at the mercy of brainwashing and personal interpretations.
"It is supposed that without such information at the books, students will be far from violence that can be easily be found anywhere in Iraq," says Sinan al-Nidawat, a history teacher at a public secondary school in Baghdad.
"But in my opinion, putting them aside is worse and can lead to a brainwash by criminals or even relatives who believe sectarian violence is the best way to get power."
Nidawat believes that the school is the best place for students to learn history and know right from wrong.
"At least they have to be able to understand what happened or is happening in their country.
"If you don’t know what is happening in your country, how can you build a better country?"
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