Latvia vs Iraq
Side-by-side comparison of how these places approach childhood.
Latvia
Latvian children weave flower crowns and jump over bonfires during the midsummer Jani festival.
The Jani summer solstice celebration is the most beloved Latvian holiday, where children stay up all night singing folk songs around fires.
Iraq
Iraqi children in the Kurdistan region learn in three languages simultaneously.
Kurdish, Arabic, and English instruction creates trilingual children navigating multiple cultural identities.
Latvia
Latvia follows a 9-3 system with compulsory education from ages 5 to 16. Latvian is the language of instruction. The system transitioned from Russian and minority-language schools to Latvian-only instruction in 2019, affecting the large Russian-speaking minority.
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.
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