(UNICEF) – The staggered start of the academic year in Iraq concludes this week with close to two million children nationwide out of school. An additional 1.2 million children are at risk of dropping out. “The impact of conflict, violence and displacement on education in Iraq is nothing short of devastating,” said Peter Hawkins, UNICEF’s Representative in Iraq. “Large numbers of children – those in host communities, displaced from their homes, as well as refugee children from Syria – continue to experience significant disruptions to their education, putting Iraq at risk of losing an entire generation to conflict.”
