COALITION PROVISIONAL AUTHORITY
BAGHDAD, IRAQ


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Hind Rassam Culhane
February 16, 2004 Tel: 941-360-3992

 

11,000 Iraqi Teachers Graduate from Teacher Training Programs
 

11,000 secondary school teachers will graduate today from a week long teacher training program designed to assist Iraq’s newly liberated teachers with gaining insight into the latest instructional methods available. Today’s graduations are being held throughout Iraq at hundreds of school locations, marking the culmination of a multi-month instructional program that has provided training to 33,000 secondary teachers and administrators throughout Iraq.

“Today is yet another pivotal turning point for the future of a free Iraq,” said Ambassador L. Paul Bremer. “The children of Iraq deserve the very best education available. The 11,000 teachers graduating throughout the country today are better prepared to offer a quality education to the next generation of Iraqi leaders in whose hands the future of a free and democratic nation will soon rest,” concluded Bremer.

In September of 2003, the USAID RISE education project (Revitalization of Iraqi Schools and Stabilization of Education) launched a dynamic program to train 830 secondary school Master Trainers in all 18 governorates. The training focused on teaching methodologies and offered numerous workshops on topics such as lesson planning, student assessment, student rights as well as techniques for school and community-parent building and classroom management. As of today, the Master Trainers have reached every part of the country providing peer-to-peer instructional training on student-centered learning and teaching methods for 33,000 teachers. 11,000 teachers will graduate from the program today during more than 200 ceremonies throughout Iraq. The media are invited to attend today’s ceremony at the Sharkia School for Girls in Karrrada.