English language, leadership and tolerance courses at 23 religious schools (Madrassas)

The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad is pleased to announce availability of funding through the Public Affairs Office (PA) for a project to support teaching the English language, basic IT skills, leadership, and tolerance at 23 religious schools (Madrassas) throughout the Iraqi Kurdistan Region (IKR). The project will provide English language courses and basic IT courses to help students who study in Ministry of Education Madrassas learn a culture of tolerance, coexistence, and acceptance. The goal is for students to engage in positive dialogue with the others and for the program to help produce open minded Mullahs (religious leaders) in the future. The courses will aim to increase critical thinking among students, and mitigate the possibility of religious students being influenced by extremist groups in the future. The project is designed to enable around 700 Islamic religious-oriented high school students to see how others work and learn in environments outside of their traditional religious schools, to learn how to accept other cultures (especially those who speak English), and how to use new technology in their daily lives. The total project implementation should last ten months including one month of preparation for developing program materials, recruiting teachers, training the teachers, and signing an agreement with the Kurdistan Regional Government Ministry of Education.