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Iraqi campaign failing in struggle against illiteracy

The Iraqi government and UNESCO launched an ambitious campaign to fight illiteracy in the country, but it has not been fully implemented.
Pupils recite during a lesson in a public school in Baghdad's Sadr City November 15, 2007. REUTERS/Kareem Raheem              (IRAQ) - RTXJPE
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It was very difficult for 40-year-old Hamama to sound out a few words from the reading material provided to her by the literacy program. She managed to read some words, yet failed to read others despite the simple text.

“I am like a completely blind woman. I know nothing,” Hamama told Al-Monitor. “All I wish for is to learn how to read and write so I can read the signs in the streets and go to a doctor by myself,” she added.

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