Posted on 06/21/2007 5:14:12 PM PDT by markomalley
Mahdi Army Members Threaten TeachersLicense to Cheat: Some Students "Protected" during Final ExamsPosted 1 hr. 14 min. ago As Iraqi high school students sit final exams, members of the Mahdi Army have threatened Iraqi teachers, warning them that some students must be allowed to cheat. In a move reminiscent of something out of The Sopranos, members of the Mahdi Army have warned teachers in Baghdad’s 'Allawi district not to interfere with students as they take the final exams, a Slogger source reports. The exact wording of the threat was not to “upset” the students as they take the exams, but the meaning is well understood as granting protection to students connected to militia members to cheat on the exams. It is not known how widespread these threats are within the Mahdi Army organization. The militia's organization structure is opaque, and the Sadrist current, led by the young Shi'a cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, has struggled to purge or discipline individuals who call themselves Mahdi Army associates but who do not follow official Sadrist policy. As with many acts committed by Mahdi Army members, it is unknown whether the threats against Iraqi schoolteachers are sanctioned by the leadership of the Sadrist organization. Such militia interference in the educational process could have chilling repercussions throughout the educational system, as teachers do not always know which students are connected to militia support, a Slogger source familiar with the educational system pointed out. High school seniors through the country are sitting the national exams this week.
For Iraqi students, the stakes of the exams are high: Results of the exam will affect students’ college placement and career paths. Under the Iraqi system, as in many other countries, higher scoring students will have the ability to seek training in what are traditionally more respected and better-compensated fields such as engineering or medicine. National exams were postponed for two days after the bombing of the al-Askari shrine in Samarra earlier this month, as the government imposed a curfew on the capital and Samarra. They had already been delayed before the Samarra bombing after test questions were leaked to students. Mahdi Army members’ interference in the final exams is part of a wider pattern of interference by armed groups in the examination process. Militias controlling predominantly Sunni Arab areas of Baghdad, such as al-Jami'a, al-Khudraa’, and al-'Amiriya have threatened students from attending the exams at all. Upon learning of the Mahdi Army threats in 'Allawi district, one Slogger contact, in classic Iraqi dark humor, joked that the Sunni and Shi'a militias approach the exams in the same way they approach the political process: Sunni militias seek to block them altogether and threaten all who participate, while members of the Mahdi Army accept the legitimacy of the exams but seek to influence them from “inside the system.” Security violations have plagued the Iraqi educational system as a whole, and Iraqi students are particularly vulnerable as they travel to and from school. On Wednesday, unknown gunmen abducted seven university students and one professor, all Christian, Catholic News Service reports. |
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
It looks like the NEA has finally made its way to Iraq.
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