Bad news in Iraq: Paint is already flaking, in newly refurbished schools [View All]

[sabra]

http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/09/20/iraq.school.reut/

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A 25-year-old biology teacher who asked not to be named said she no longer knew why she came to work. Salaries, generous in the initial days after the fall of Saddam Hussein, have been eroded by inflation. Hers is now worth about $110 a month.

"Nothing encourages us to come to work, neither the salaries nor the security situation," she said. "Maybe I'd be better off staying at home."

The school was refurbished in 2003, but already the paint is flaking. Two fans blow air through a stiflingly hot classroom packed with about 50 teenagers.