Iraq vs Afghanistan
Side-by-side comparison of how these places approach childhood.
Iraq
Iraqi children in the Kurdistan region learn in three languages simultaneously.
Kurdish, Arabic, and English instruction creates trilingual children navigating multiple cultural identities.
Afghanistan
Since 2021, Afghan girls over 12 are banned from attending school.
The Taliban's return ended two decades of progress in girls' education, affecting 1.4 million secondary-school girls.
Iraq
Iraq's 6-3-3 system is recovering from decades of conflict. The Kurdistan Region operates a semi-autonomous system. Many schools run double or triple shifts to accommodate students. Over 8,000 schools need rehabilitation.
Afghanistan
Since the Taliban takeover in August 2021, girls above grade 6 are banned from school and women from universities. Boys' education continues but with revised curriculum emphasizing religious studies. Before 2021, enrollment had risen from near-zero for girls to 3.5 million.
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