Many governorates are suffering from the deterioration of basic infrastructure, such as educational facilities, and the performance of schools and educational facilities overall has reached its lowest levels, as many schools are old and dilapidated, forcing students to attend teaching sessions in old buildings that may collapse, in addition to many health problems during the winter months due to the lack of doors or windows in many of these buildings.
The Iraqi Red Crescent took the initiative to renovate and restore 17 schools in three governorates in order to alleviate the suffering of students and teaching staff and to establish a suitable healthy atmosphere to ensure the proper continuation of the educational process.
According to Nawar Abdel Qader, director of the Iraqi Red Crescent’s construction and sanitation department, Iraqi Red Crescent cadres have completed the rehabilitation and restoration of 17 schools and health centers in three governorates, including eight schools in Salah al-Din, six in Diyalah, and three in Nineveh, as well as the rehabilitation of a health center in Nineveh.
To rebuild schools and the health center, the Swedish Red Cross helped, and the project was started after field inspections of a number of schools in those governorates to figure out which ones were the most damaged by the storms, he said.
“Two RO water purification plants were installed in Diyalah governorate and the other in Salah al-Din governorate as part of the project’s work plan,” he stated.
According to Abdel Qader, “The rehabilitation included installing water tanks and refrigerators, treatment and rehabilitation bathrooms, installing new caravan baths, supplying cleaning materials and first aid, as well as equipping schools with large containers and waste bags, and providing green spaces (gardens) with an area of not less than 100 square meters and planting them and providing seats for students in them,”
The rehabilitation campaign was followed by public awareness lectures here about how to maintain school furniture, including sanitary facilities, and personal hygiene, in order to develop environmental reality and its good effects on public health.
The number of students who benefited from the school renovations surpassed 9,000.
As per Abdul Qadir, the Red Crescent teams installed two RO water purification plants in these governorates, the first in Jalawla Hospital in Diyalah governorate and the second in one of the Baiji villages in Salah al-Din governorate, each with a capacity of 200 cubic meters per hour.
“The number of beneficiaries of these stations has surpassed 6000,” he said. However, filters and spare materials for these stations were provided for a year, as well as training cadres to maintain and sustain their work.