ISIS Imposes Education Tax on Students

ISIS has announced monthly taxes on students attending schools and colleges in Iraq’s second-largest city, parents and a security official said Wednesday. Iraqi government schools have been state-funded since 1974. But parents in Mosul — which ISIS militants now control — have been told they must pay 25,000 Iraqi dinars (about $21) for every child attending kindergarten, 50,000 dinars ($42) for high-school students and 75,000 dinars ($62.50) for college undergraduates, a mother of three and another father-of-three told NBC News. A senior Iraqi security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, also confirmed the taxes had been introduced. “ISIS elements are trying to get funds from different sources in order to run the territories they took over,” the official said.

“This is too much for me,” the mother of three told NBC News by phone. “We are living under very bad financial conditions here in Mosul.” The woman, whose name has been withheld for her own safety, added: “ISIS elements are using different kinds of pressure against us…My husband will have to work more hours to earn this money.”

NBC