Only around 100 of the 840 boys who usually attend the al-Marekarzia secondary school were able to make it to class but teachers and students alike said they were delighted to be back.

Headteacher Ahmed Sabir looked on with pride as a group of boys swept broken glass from one of the classrooms which was targeted by looters in the immediate aftermath of the city's fall to British forces earlier this month.

"This shows how eager they are to return to school," Sabir told AFP.

The headteacher said that messages had been broadcast on radio and from loudspeakers on Friday night, telling pupils and parents that schools were reopening.

He said none of the teachers knew how they were going to be paid but around 30 of the 40-strong staff had turned up for work.

"We are hoping that normal life can return in Iraq. Salaries and other things are of secondary importance."

Looters stole or wrecked much of the school's science laboratories, but classes in subjects such as English, Arabic and mathematics were able to take place on Saturday without any problems.

Chemistry teacher Yassin Mujbil tore down a portrait of Saddam which had been hanging over the blackboard after surveying the wreckage in his classroom.

"It is sorrowful to see but we will rearrange the equipment and try to complete the previous curriculum," he said.

The pupils themselves all said they were delighted to return to school and that Saddam had been consigned to the history books.

"At the beginning I thought that we would lose a whole year," said 17-year-old Hussan Abud. "I want to go to university to study engineering so the loss of a whole year would be a catastrophe."

Others were revelling in the chance to meet up with classmates and play football and basketball after spending so long at home with their parents.

The life of Saddam was a compulsory part of school for the pupils in the past, who were taught about his life and his achievements.

"We did not learn anything from Saddam Hussein," said 18-year-old Haider Abdul Hassan. "He killed the people and everyone suffered under Saddam."

English teacher Ali Hussein Subber said that teachers had been forced to deliver lessons about Saddam. "Saddam is in the past. We are starting again."

Most of the pupils were missing on Saturday as many had not heard about the reopening and school buses were still not running, said headteacher Sabir. The teachers had made their way in by car.

SPACE.WIRE