Iraqi children proudly display their new textbooks The students consider the new textbooks so valuable that most of them cover their books with attractive paper to protect them. Teachers report that they are pleased with the quality of the textbooks and, for the first time since sanctions were imposed, there is a textbook for every child. Implemented by the Iraqi Ministry of Education through the World Bank Iraq Trust Fund, the Emergency Textbook Provision project financed the printing and distribution of more than 79 million textbooks benefiting 6 million students in 19,000 primary and secondary schools for the 2004/05 school year. Also, $9 million of savings from using competitive procurement procedures were used to deliver an additional 3.5 million textbooks for 2005/06. Finally a capacity building activity to improve textbook quality will take place this year before the project closes in December 2006. |  |  | Children in an intermediate School (Babylon) | Children in a School (Babylon) |
 | Students in Risafa |
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