Iraq needs over 10,000 new schools to end overcrowding, report warns

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – Iraq requires more than 10,000 new school buildings to effectively eliminate severe classroom overcrowding and cultivate a modern pedagogical environment, according to a report released on Sunday, September 13, 2026, by the economic monitor Eco Iraq. Despite the country maintaining an operational footprint of more than 40,000 schools serving primary and secondary pupils nationwide, the observatory underscored that existing facilities remain entirely inadequate to absorb the country’s expanding student population. The monitor highlighted that structural deficits continue to constrain daily operations across the public education system, noting that at least 8,000 new school facilities are immediately required simply to phase out multi-shift schooling and transition toward a single-shift model where each school administration operates an independent building. Achieving an optimal learning setting free of excessive classroom density pushes that requirement well past the 10,000-facility threshold, reflecting decades of demographic growth outpacing physical infrastructure construction. The report also drew attention to persistent disparities in building standards across rural and peripheral regions, confirming that around 200 mud-brick schools and roughly 800 caravan-style temporary classrooms remain in active use, primarily clustered across Salah al-Din and Dhi Qar governorates. The observatory concluded by calling on the Ministry of Education to adopt decisive capital allocation programs, emphasizing that high-density demographic hubs—most critically Baghdad, Mosul, Basra, and Dhi Qar—must sit at the very top of federal school-building initiatives to dismantle the ongoing educational backlog.