Children return to schools in recaptured east Mosul

PanARMENIAN.Net - Thousands of Iraqi children are heading back to school in eastern areas of Mosul that have been cleared of Islamic State militants by government forces, BBC News reports.

The UN Children's Fund said 30 schools had reopened on Sunday, January 22 allowing 16,000 children to resume their education after two years of jihadist rule.

Iraq's Prime Minister, Haider al-Abadi, has announced that the east of the city is now fully clear of IS.

However, deadly fighting was reported in eastern districts on Tuesday.

Photos published by Reuters news agency show Iraqi soldiers examining the dead bodies of IS fighters in what is said to be the Intisar district.

Further north, also east of the River Tigris, Iraqi troops said they had liberated the Rashidiyah district, as well as the villages of Haditha and Jurf al-Milih.

Government-led forces began their offensive against IS in Mosul in October. It is the group's last major urban stronghold in Iraq but the jihadist group still controls several large towns and large parts of Syria.

An additional 40 schools are expected to open in the coming weeks after being checked for unexploded ordnances.

IS uses schools to indoctrinate children into its extremist ideology.

Boys adhere to a rigid curriculum, where drawing, history, philosophy and social studies - considered by IS to be "the methodology of atheism" - are removed. They must instead memorise verses of the Koran and attend "jihadist training", which includes firing weapons and martial arts.

Girls - most of whom were banned from getting an education in Mosul - are veiled and taught how to cook, clean and support their future husbands.