Iraqi education chief scraps cemetery plot offer to staff

Shafaq News- Najaf

A government circular offering employees of Najaf's Education Directorate the opportunity to purchase cemetery plots on installment sparked controversy on Wednesday, prompting the department's director to announce it would be revoked.

A copy of the circular obtained by Shafaq News showed that the directorate had circulated an offer from a private company to education staff to purchase burial plots in a model cemetery through installment payments financed by a local bank.

Director General Ammar Al-Arabawi said the circular had been issued without his knowledge while he was on leave and traveling abroad, adding that it had been signed by his administrative deputy. "I will revoke the circular upon returning to official duty," Al-Arabawi told Shafaq News, adding that disciplinary measures would be taken against those responsible. He said the directorate was working to improve the welfare of its employees through measures such as allocating residential land plots, "not cemetery plots."

A source in the Najaf Provincial Council told Shafaq News the council would summon the education director and senior officials to explain the circumstances surrounding the issuance of the circular. The source added that council members had previously questioned other official correspondence issued by the directorate that the director later said had been released without his knowledge.

Najaf is home to Wadi Al-Salam, one of the world's largest cemeteries, and has established additional model cemeteries in recent years to meet growing demand for burial plots.

Read more: Wadi Al Salam: Najaf’s ever-growing city of the dead