The United States Agency for International Development is currently reviewing bids for a contract, reported to be worth some 65 million dollars, to revamp the country's educational system, from printing new textbooks to handing out chalkboards, pencils and book bags.

"We issued a request for proposals in February which includes teacher training and the printing of new textbooks. No contractor has yet been chosen to carry out this work, but it will be similar to what is being done in Afghanistan," said USAID spokesman Harry Edwards.

In its request for bids, USAID said the educational system in a post-war Iraq must "lay a foundation for democratic practices and attitudes among children and educators."

Contractors are also encouraged to "take the issue of ethnic balance in its program into consideration."

But reformers face an uphill climb. Current Iraqi textbooks are chock full of adulation for Saddam and constant encouragement to use force to defend the current Iraqi regime against enemies.

According to a report by the Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights, "children are conditioned in Saddam Hussein's Iraq ... through direct action, having an impact on their inner self and starting when they are very young."

One Iraqi mother told the group that her 10-year-old daughter had already been trained to handle weapons; "and students who do not join in are given lower marks at school."

The rights group said the indoctrination is part of Saddam's strategy to retain his tight grip on his country, as outlined in a 1977 speech, delivered two years before he took power.

"Some fathers have escaped our hold for various reasons, but a young boy is still in our hands," the rights group quoted Saddam as saying. "Teach him to stand up to one or the other of his parents."

Saddam continued to say that such a student would "be able to stand in the sun, bearing arms day and night, without flagging ... when asked to confront the imperialists."

The winning contractor will be charged with providing school supplies, including textbooks, to all "permissive" areas by the start of the school year, although Edwards said the exact date was yet to be set.

By the end of the first year, the contractor should have distributed student kits to 4.2 million children in 25,000 schools that have enough equipment and supplies to provide "a standard level of quality."

For starters, USAID Tuesday awarded a one-million-dollar, one-year grant to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) for basic education in Iraq, reiterating that the United States has made revamping education there a priority.

"The children of Iraq are the country's future," USAID Administrator Andrew Natsios said in a statement. "This grant will help ensure regular school attendance, a critical element in creating a stable and functioning society in Iraq."

In Afghanistan, USAID funded a 16.5-million-dollar program to revamp education, which provided 50 tonnes of primary textbooks distributed in that country last month.

A consortium led by Washington-based Creative Associates International will have printed and handed out more than 10 million rewritten textbooks by late May, according to a company statement.

SPACE.WIRE