Iraq launches literacy program targeting 20,000 employees at the Ministry of Electricity - Sarmad

The Iraqi Ministry of Education has launched a literacy program targeting 19,939 employees and workers at the Ministry of Electricity, most of whom were hired on contracts in recent years.

Haitham Muntathir, the Director of Media and Relations at the Executive Body for Literacy within the Ministry of Education, stated that the program is being implemented in cooperation with the Ministry of Electricity and covers employees in Baghdad and other governorates.

Muntathir clarified that the Ministry of Education will provide the necessary teaching staff and logistical resources, with educational centers to be established within the offices and companies of the Ministry of Electricity, alongside the utilization of existing literacy centers.

The official attributed the presence of employees who cannot read or write to the expansion of contract-based hiring in recent years. He noted that the Ministry of Electricity’s permanent staff previously numbered between 90,000 and 95,000 employees, before more than 100,000 workers were added on a contractual basis.

He added that most of these contract workers were registered under the title “craftsman,” and that a large number of them were laborers and skilled tradespeople who took these positions to secure income for their families.

Muntathir mentioned that some beneficiaries did not have the opportunity to attend school due to the wars and difficult conditions Iraq has endured, which contributed to a high number of illiterate individuals among the program’s participants.

Under the plan, beneficiaries will be distributed among existing literacy centers and new ones established within institutions of the Ministry of Electricity. Participants will continue their education up to the fourth grade of primary school as part of the literacy program, before advancing to the fifth and sixth grades under the “Accelerated Education” program, with the aim of obtaining an accredited primary school certificate.

The Ministry of Education stated that it has implemented similar programs in cooperation with the Ministry of Interior and other ministries in recent periods.