After a year, Iraq students back in school as pandemic slows

Iraqi students have returned to classrooms for the first time in a year, following the prolonged closure caused by the coronavirus pandemic

BAGHDAD -- In Baghdad’s primary Green Valley school, children wearing face masks waited in long lines early Monday to pass through a specially constructed disinfection tunnel before entering their classrooms.

A mist of disinfectant was sprayed as each child passed through. On the other end, deputy school principal Hind Ibraheem waited, handing out squirts of hand sanitizer to each student.

“I don’t know how I will maintain social distancing," she sighed. “There are 1,300 students in this school, with only 30 classrooms!”

Across Iraq, students returned to classrooms Monday for the first time in a year and a half following the prolonged closure caused by the coronavirus pandemic — a closure that compares only to the times of war and turmoil.