Protests and pandemic rob Iraqi students of graduation dreams

Nearly 150,000 Iraqis may not graduate as planned this spring; according to the US embassy, between 200 and 250 students who were meant to study in the US this year will not be able to travel, due to virus restrictions.

It was supposed to be Basma’s big year: a degree, language certification and maybe a master’s abroad. But local protests and a global pandemic threw the Iraqi student’s plans off-course.

“I’ve been dreaming of graduation since my first day at university. I even bought a coral pink graduation dress — and I never wear dresses,” said Basma, who studies at Baghdad’s Mustansariyah University. “Now I don’t know when I can wear it.”

Nearly 150,000 Iraqis may not graduate as planned this spring, according to the higher education ministry’s spokesman Haider Al Abboudi, as their universities were shut down first by mass anti-government protests, then the spreading coronavirus.

That will delay their hunt for jobs in a country where youth unemployment is already a staggering 36 percent and is likely to spike much higher as the country faces a financial crisis.

Basma Haitham, 23, had meticulously planned her studies so she could secure a rare private-sector job in Iraq.