The United States and international organizations must also be sensitive to the question of choosing an Islamic versus secular education. In 2003, Education Minister Alwan condemned the attempt by USAID to prohibit references to Islam including verses from the Quran in the education materials it funded, according to the Financial Times.

US officials might want to substitute modern science for religious fundamentalism in the school curriculum, but the Iraqi people might call for an education system that reflects the strong religious influence in society. Such a dialogue as this could be included in national discussions about which education practices will be the most successful in moving Iraqi society further along.

Other issues that will emerge in a reform of the Iraqi education system are the demographics of the children enrolled in schools, the quality of universities, and the role of private and foreign schools. According to the Agence France Presse, UNICEF has called attention to the significantly lower enrollment rates of girls as compared to boys in Iraqi schools. Alwan, according to the Agence France Presse in a January 3, 2004 article, announced the education of women as a goal in the four-year project to develop Iraqi schools. According to Alwan, only half of the girls in rural areas are getting an education.

After Iraq’s primary education system has been rehabilitated, the state of Iraqi higher education must be vastly improved as well. College classrooms were also not immune to the waves of looting that occurred after the US-led strike on Iraq. According to a July 12, 2004 article in the Chicago Sun-Times, an Iraqi professor at university in Baghdad explained how to use a microscope to second- and third-year chemistry students, who had never used a microscope before.

Prospects for an alternative Iraqi education may also lie in the system of private and foreign schools that was reportedly approved by the Iraqi Governing Council in Iraq’s newspaper, Al Zamman. In a country that has isolated itself, a discussion of challenges and possibilities so nascent in Iraqi society has not taken place for decades. The United States has helped Iraqis initiate small steps in the overhaul of Iraqi schools, but it must commit to the long-term modernization of Iraqi education, a commitment that will be just as long-term as the rebuilding of the rest of Iraqi society.