Excited children return to school in Baghdad

By Aseel Kami and Yasser Faisal

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - "Two days left, one day left, she's been counting the days," said Hiro's mother as she took her six-year-old youngest daughter to school for the first time.

For children in Iraq, the start of the new academic year on Sunday was a welcome opportunity for them to leave their homes, don smart new clothes and catch up with their friends again.

But for parents braving the streets of Baghdad on the school run, fear of bombs and kidnappings is the overriding emotion.

And teachers in the relatively safer parts of central Baghdad are struggling to cope with floods of new pupils from nearby districts still riven by sectarian violence.

"Of course they are happy, they do not realise the fear we are suffering because of the security situation," teacher Rihab Abboud said outside Amal primary school in the central Baghdad district of Karrada.

Girls dressed in smart blue dresses, white blouses and with plaited hair, boys with new trainers, jeans and bright T-shirts, chat in groups, talk on mobile phones and chase each other round the playground.

"I'm happy because this is the first day for my youngest daughter," said Hiro's mother, Um Issa, outside the Fatima Bint Assad school in Karrada.

"But I'm happy and afraid at the same time. The streets are not safe."