Written question asked by Andrew George (Liberal Democrat) on Tuesday, 17 January 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 19 January 2006. It was answered by Hilary Benn (Labour) on Wednesday, 25 January 2006 on behalf of the Department for International Development.

Iraq

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the school enrolment rates have been in Iraq in each of the past five years for (a) girls and (b) boys, broken down by (i) primary and (ii) secondary schools.

Answer: The best information we have on school enrolment rates in Iraq is the ““Iraq living Conditions Survey 2004”” conducted by the Iraqi Central Office for Statistics and information technology in April/May 2004. This survey can be found at:http://www.iq.undp.org/ILCS/overview.htm. It gives good information for 2004, but we do not have comparable data for the other years requested.This survey tells us that in 2004, 79 percent. of primary school age children were enrolled in school (83 percent. for boys, 75 percent. for girls). The net enrolment rate in intermediate school (lower secondary, covering ages 13–16) is 41 percent. (47 percent. for boys and 36 percent. for girls). In secondary school (upper secondary, covering ages 16–18) the net enrolment rate is 36 percent. (40 percent. for boys, 32 percent. for girls).The Arab human development report (2003) estimates the primary school enrolment rate was 100 percent. for boys and 85.66 percent. for girls in 1999–2000. The secondary school enrolment rate was estimated at 39.6 percent. for boys and 26.04 percent for girls in the same period.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 44448; 441 c2146W
Session: 2005-06
Subjects: Admissions Iraq Pupils Primary education Schools Secondary education
Contains statistics: Yes
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk