"Iraq and its education sector were plunged into the Dark Ages. During those years, the infrastructure and overall moral foundation of the education system were destroyed," it said, adding that the public spending rate, which used to be $675 a student in 1978, dropped to less than $29 a student annually during the years of occupation.

School dropout rates have reached 35 percent in elementary schools and 45 percent in high schools, according to latest figures. United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund stated that 3.2 million Iraqi school-age children have dropped out of school.

In December 2022, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani said that Iraq required 8,000 new schools to address significant educational infrastructure deficits.