December 4, 2005

Civil rights groups have protested new rulings that make segregation of sexes in Iraqi schools compulsory.

Education ministry has issued regulations under which mixed teaching even at university level will be forbidden.

Already male teachers are not allowed to lecture at high schools and institutes of girls in many provinces in the country.

The rights groups have written to Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari complaining that schools and universities were being pressured by sectarian factions to apply strict Islamic rules.

In some universities and schools, girls are forced to wear the veil or scarf and forced to attend classes separately.

Mixed education at the primary and tertiary levels was part of the country’s secular system until the 2003 U.S. invasion of the country.

Only secondary schools were segregated but teachers of both sexes were allowed to lecture.

Since the invasion, women have found themselves enjoying less and less freedom and wearing veil is a must in many provinces where Islamists dominate.

A student union representative in Baghdad, refusing to be named, said he feared segregation was on its way to be imposed on Baghdad University, the country’s largest and most open science institution.

"It (education) is slowly turning into a Talaban-like system. The Ministry of Education is already practicing it and we fear it will soon be extend to higher education," the student said.