Education and religion to fight IS mentality in Anbar
At a college close to the Syrian-Iraqi border, surrounded by the harsh Anbari desert, many women with male relatives still missing have resumed their studies after the area was liberated from the Islamic State.
AL-OBEIDI, Iraq — Women in heavy, black, face-covering niqabs sit on one side while young men in blazers and crisp white shirts sit on the other in classes at Anbar's westernmost institute of higher learning.
The Qaim College of Education is located in al-Obeidi near the border between Iraq and Syria, where both experts and locals say better education and knowledge of Islam are needed to reduce extremism.
Dean Nasif Jassim Mohamed of Qaim College of Education told Al-Monitor that "there are more women here than men since families in this area may send their sons to Baghdad, Mosul or Ramadi for their education, but will usually not do so with their daughters.”
Mohamed noted that “between 2015 and 2018, the classes were held in other cities — Kirkuk, Ramadi, Abu Ghraib,” making it impossible for students who could not afford to leave their home regions to continue their studies during the period under the Islamic State (IS).
