Philanthropists building 99% of mosques and just 1% of schools in Iraqi Kurdistan

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Philanthropists building 99% of mosques and just 1% of schools in Iraqi Kurdistan

Posted on December 22, 2018 by Editorial Staff in Education, Islam, People  https://ekurd.net/kurdistan-philanthropists-mosques-schools-2018-12-22

Grand mosques in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan. Photo: Courtesy of Safin/flickr

HEWLÊR-Erbil, Iraq’s Kurdistan region,— More than 99 percent of all mosques in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region have been built by philanthropists and the religious affairs ministry is overwhelmed by applications for construction permits for new mosques, government data suggest.

“Ninety-nine percent of mosques in the Kurdistan Region were built by philanthropists who applied for construction permits to build mosques even during the financial crisis,” Nabaz Ismael, spokesperson of the Ministry of Religious Affairs told Rudaw.

“We are currently processing 70 applications for permits to build mosques,” he added.

Of more than 5,500 mosques in the Kurdistan Region 99 percent were fully funded by local philanthropists, according to the ministry.

The religious affairs ministry is overwhelmed by the number of applications for building new mosques to an extent that they have now introduced new conditions for issuing such permits.

“There are places that have a mosque already, yet they want to build another one there,” Ismail explained. “The Ministry of Religious Affairs does not allow them to build mosques anywhere they wish to build one.”

He maintained that permits are only given for mosques where they are needed.

“Mosques are allowed to be built according to the need and instructions,” Ismail said. “Permits are issued to build mosques in places that don’t have one or have an old one that needs to be renovated.”

Ismail said they did not have such conditions for building churches or other houses of worship. He added that there are 122 churches and 32 Christian sites in the Kurdistan Region.

Ismail said that foreign organizations and governments have helped rebuilding some Christian churches and Yezidi sites damaged by or during the war with ISIS.

“The Ministry of Religious Affairs only facilitates the process for them,” he added.

In comparison, philanthropists have contributed to the building of only 1 percent of all more than 7,000 schools in the region.

Some believe philanthropists should channel their money towards other projects such as schools and hospitals.

“There is only one hospital in the Kurdistan Region that was built by a philanthropist, and this hospital is called Nana Kali in Erbil which is special to blood diseases and cancer,” There are also some health centers built by philanthropists. The rest was built by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG),” Dr Khalis Qadir, chief of staff of the KRG Ministry of Health told Rudaw.

From 2013 to 2017 only one school was built in the province of Erbil and that was funded by a private company.

The government says that philanthropists have built only 28 schools across the Kurdistan Region: 7 in Erbil, 7 in Sulaimani, 10 in Duhok, 3 in Halabja, and one in Garmiyan.

“Of the 6,799 state schools, 189 schools are in rented buildings, 2006 schools have double shifts, and 150 schools have triple shifts,” Shorish Ghafur, head of media office at the Ministry of Education, told Rudaw.

The KRG needs to build 3,098 new schools by 2022, according to a 2017 government plan.