The educational system is one of the requirements of comprehensive development according to the needs of all societies, depending on its importance in raising the skills and capabilities of individuals in managing the private and public sectors. An urgent necessity that requires educational spending to advance the educational reality, facing challenges including poor planning and management, and poor educational services. Therefore, financing educational spending has become necessary in order to achieve economic and social services.

Importance of Research 

The importance of research lies in explaining the role of the educational system in qualifying human resources, which are basic structures in developing the potential and capabilities of individuals, and then the accumulation of knowledge.

Problem of Research

The educational system in Iraq suffers from a weakness in the necessary educational services, in addition to the high costs in the Ministries of Education and Higher Education, despite its possession of an oil resource that finances public spending, which led to a weak role of government spending in bringing about a qualitative and comprehensive boom in education.

Hypothesis of Research 

The research stems from the hypothesis that development of human resources through the educational system leads to raising the efficiency, ability and skill of the human element as it is the main tool in the development process.

Objective of the Research

• Explaining the concept and importance of the educational system, as well as reviewing its stages and patterns

• Analysis of government spending trend in Iraq and its role in the development of education, according to financial indicators

• Statement of the position of economists on the rate of economic return of education, as well as the challenges it faces        

Approach of Research 

The research shows the use of more than one approach to identify the research objectives that should be reached, and among these approaches:

• The deductive approach that deals with the theoretical framework for the concept of education

• The inductive approach, which deals with analyzing and tracking the special partial advantages, leading to the overall advantages, and then its results

Outlines of Research

The research took spatial and temporal outlines in Iraq for (2006-2018).

Structure of Research

In order to achieve the hypothesis and objectives of the research, the research is divided into two main chapters, in addition to conclusions and recommendations. As the first chapter examines the theoretical framework in two sections, the first Section included a conceptual framework for education, while the second Section included the challenges facing the educational system. As for the second chapter, it dealt with the analytical and quantitative side, as the first Section focused on the rate of economic return to education, while the second Section focused on the analysis of economic variables in Iraq.

First Section: Education (Concept, Importance, Stages and Patterns)

Concept of Education: Education is a foundation on which the economic, social, political and cultural construction and societal progress of each country is based. It is not limited to economic growth only, but integration with technological progress, innovation and invention contributes to raising the efficiency and quality of education service.

As most economists agree on the difficulty of defining a clear and accurate concept of education, due to the multiplicity of opinions and propositions from one country to another, depending on the culture of society, it affects and is affected by the social, economic, political and moral system. And arm him with knowledge and culture to exercise his role in life in a successful and dignified way [1].

It is also known that it is the tool that enables a person to acquire a large flow of skills and multiple information that helps him in education, interpretation of theories and various phenomena, and their use in overcoming the difficulties of daily life, and getting acquainted with the different opinions of others, and benefiting from them in his scientific and practical life during employment in the government or private sector.

Alfred Marshall also explained the role of education, as he considered it one of the largest and best national investments, and its economic return is higher than that of other sectors in the long term [2].Some defined it as a process aimed at pumping a set of information and skills, raising capabilities and knowledge, in various humanitarian and scientific specializations, and stimulating the ability and competence of the learner to search for job opportunities of better quality and quality [1].

Importance of Education

The educational system took a large part in the field of economic development through the achievement of multiple development goals, including an increase in the average per capita share of the GDP, exploiting the various natural resources in the country after arming the individual with knowledge and accumulating the knowledge and ability he acquires from education, enhancing self-confidence, investing time and self-management, and in order to harness the educational system in the service of development and society, efforts must be made to link educational institutions with requirements that are subject to change in a flexible manner, as well as the owners of shares in society (employees, local government, external economic institutions, research institutions), as well as Formation of institutions capable of establishing relationships to increase the production of human capital, according to the following features of education:

• Making the national framework for lifelong, education an institution linking educational systems and the social and economic structure

• Sobriety and development of international standards, and ensuring efficiency and quality outside educational institutions

• Increasing the bonds of interdependence between education systems, and recognizing non-formal educational institutions

• Enhancing confidence between the educational systems and the labor market, while creating incentives to distinguish the best learners, and providing educational opportunities for employees.

• Developing a legal regulation to give preference between evaluating the services provided by the government and private sectors according to institutional performance .

• Education also has a role in overcoming the difficulties facing comprehensive development by transforming unhealthy behavior or consumption into healthy consumption, prompting the learner to consume income, directing the remaining to saving and moving towards investment in a project with returns or adherence to daily commodity consumption [1]. and in order to write for him Success takes a competitive role. Two types of services must be provided. First, the production and preparation of a basis of human capital, as knowledge is considered the basis for the success of the competition, as it is necessary to raise the level of people who excel in education [2], secondly, the country’s ability to expand knowledge, as it encourages and motivates the individual Towards continuity, progress and growth excessively in education.

   

This paved the way for the increased interest in the educational system by economists, which is attributed to many factors, including:

• The growing awareness of the economies of developing countries of the actual contribution of education to achieving economic development

• The increase in educational spending in most countries of the world, which attracted the attention of economists to know the economic returns from it

• The continuous increase in population numbers resulted in an increase in student returns, which is required by studying the cost of education in order to obtain a greater return at the lowest expense

This increase in the number of students leads to an increase in the composition of government revenue to cover educational spending and thus distribute the financial burdens of education between the central government, private agencies, and the general budget [3], Based on the foregoing, the final outcome of the importance of the educational system can be shown through the role of education in increasing savings, investment, employment and fairness in the distribution of opportunities. On the other hand, education may deviate from this path when it is used according to low efficiency. It leads the learners to not financially feasible and unnecessary work which makes unemployment rates grow high, and the departure of minds, which makes unemployment rates grow high, and educated minds leave their role in leading society to push the wheel of development forward, as for the adoption of decentralization in education with the contribution of the private sector, in addition to quality assurance, research and development, which results in an increase in the number of enrollments in education and a fair distribution of capital Human, making a low level of poverty, and supportive of economic growth in accordance with government policy adopted in basic education

The Stages of Education

• Stage of kindergarten Development: The child comes out of the family circle into the community environment to enter the stage of preparation and preparation at an age group of 4-5 years for two years, the first is known as the kindergarten, and the second year is known as the preliminary stage, as children are prepared and qualified linguistically, spiritually and mentally for the primary stage

• Stage of Primary Education Development: The primary educational system is the cornerstone, which learners be at the age group 6-11 years for 6 years. This stage is represented by teaching reading, writing, mathematical operations, learning English, social studies, and science, in the sense of qualifying to move to a higher level of information and scientific techniques after saturation with information and knowledge

• Stage of Secondary Education Development: The learner moves after completing the primary stage to the secondary stage, and it continues for a period of 6 years, divided into two parts: the first, it is called Intermediate and lasts for 3 years, while the second part is called preparatory and lasts for 3 years in two parts, literary and scientific, and then the student's mentality is refined and he is properly prepared to move to universities and institutes

• Stage of Development of Higher Education: The duration of the study continues for 2-6 years, according to specialization and admission. The study had divided into institutes, the study period is 2 years, and the colleges, the study period its be 4 years, and some scientific specializations continues the study period for 6 years.  For the postgraduate studies, the study period is one year to obtain a higher diploma, while the study period is 2 years to obtain a master’s degree, and as for a doctoral degree continues the period of study for 3 years to provide the community with professors and scholars with advanced scientific ability to lead the country at the highest possible level

Patterns of the Educational System

Patterns of governmental or private education are among the outputs of the educational system of society, a person who has a outlook and an open mind that interacts with contemporary technical and artistic progress, and expansion of the social, economic, political and cultural structure in society while communicating with global educational progress. The patterns of the educational system can be stated as follows:

• Traditional Education: The educational system in Iraq emerged from the values and foundations that the Iraqi society holds in terms of religious, social, humanitarian bonds, human resources, whereas the government had committed to free education for all segments of society equally according to the principle of justice between the center, districts and sub-districts without exception in the human race to support mental talents for progress and overcoming social and economic difficulties. 

• Accelerated Education: the Accelerated Education Program had been implemented in 2005  by UNICEF in association with the Ministry of Education, which It includes the age group that was separated from the educational system from 12-18 years after compressing the teaching curricula to three years, and granting the learner a parallel certificate to the primary stage

• The Distinguished Education: The educational system witnessed a new pattern called the Education of the Distinguished after the emergence of a group of students with scientific and intellectual capabilities that drew the attention of Ministry of Education to open secondary schools for the distinguished in 1992, through using advanced and modern methods

• Vocational Education: The learner's completion of the intermediate stage enters him the preparatory stage in the following specializations (commerce, agriculture, industry, public profession, home arts) for three years, which in turn invests in human resources and harnesses them after refining the artistic and technical talents to face the changes the world is going through

• Technical Education: The technical education system is one of the targeted educational systems that creates human resources that possess capabilities and knowledge in multiple disciplines during the study period two years after the completion of the secondary stage, as the technical education is a link between the human resources that have completed professional prep and the specialists after completing University education

• Continuing Education: The University of Technology established centers for continuing education in 1977 to be responsible for spreading the university scientific message to multiple disciplines for a wide range of individuals to provide them with modern information to keep pace with the development taking place with the outside world and to address technical and technical obstacles through technological methods

• The Second Section: the challenges are facing the educational system

• The First Requirement: globalization (concept, causes, challenges)

The Concept of Globalization

The steady increase represents the production recycling from multinational companies with the scientific revolution represented by information and communication technology that made the world a small village, also globalization represents the external openness in the economic, knowledge and scientific fields of a particular country with the world in one organized market that includes within it a group of markets that carry quality and quantity in its specialization, and some believe that globalization means the poor (developing countries) and the rich (developed countries).

Reasons of the Advent of Globalization

• Reducing customs duties on foreign trade under the auspices of the GATT organization for the liberalization of trade

• Industrial progress in developing countries has accelerated the emergence of the concept of globalization

• The developing financial markets as a channel for securities trading in various countries of the outside world

• The expansion of direct and indirect foreign investment that works to increase the total supply of goods and services, so prices fall, and thus the real income increases and the welfare of the consumer increases

• The scientific and technological revolution has a major role in the emergence of globalization, which resulted in a decrease in the cost of transportation and communications and a reduction in time

• Multinational companies are operating under the monopoly market and determining the prices of products by determining production, as well as absorbing unemployment

• The ISO quality standard (ISO) represents the international standards that were developed in agreement with European countries in particular, and the major industrialized countries to standardize products in general

• Electronic management, as a result of harmony and coordination between communications and computers in order to reduce the time and distance between global markets and make them within the framework of one open market

• The education system is also linked to renewal and modernization in the labor market to provide job opportunities that guarantee a better life

• International economic institutions (International Monetary Fund, World Bank, World Trade Organization)

Challenges of the Education System Associated with Globalization

The education system was preoccupied in the presence of globalization with challenges when preparing a national strategy for education under contexts that are compatible with the future visions of education, which made it imperative to reform the educational system as soon as possible, as a result of the scientific revolution, information technology and the development of communications, as the education system was associated with renewal and progress in the labor market to provide a better life, and on the other hand, it made it easier for students to join international universities easily in one class without leaving their homes and shortening time and routine, which means economics depends on a knowledge base. Also this stage is going through a set of problems including:

• Adopting the indoctrination system, which made the educational outcomes is low, as well as not introducing the new technology in education and teaching methods

• Declining in level of the vocational education, and the decline in equipping laboratories with specialized equipment and tools

• Deviation of the outputs of the traditional educational system from the requirements of renewable the labor market

• insufficient attention in the required specializations in the labor market represented by "medicine, engineering, pharmacy", while some specializations receive the greatest attention, including "law, humanities, administration", whereas we note that many countries have worked to expand university studies in return for preparing them to absorb the outputs of university education in the governmental, the private sector, or completing their postgraduate studies

Based on the foregoing, the challenges of globalization for the educational system can be stated as follows:

• Globalization has produced foreign universities within developing countries, which has made competition intense for national governmental universities

• Increase of governmental support and spend for public universities in exchange for a decrease in supporting the private universities

• Diversification and modernization of the educational system represented by the establishment of open universities, as well as the Distance Learning, and virtual university at a lower educational cost than public universities

• It is expected an imbalance between the humanitarian and scientific disciplines

• Entering the private educational sector "Al-Ahly" to compete with the government educational sector on the basis of the principle of "profit" benefit

• Absence of oversight to ensure the scientific quality of education in foreign universities inside the country

• The weakness of the government's role in preserving the national educational identity as a result of the decline in future visions and goals set for the advancement of the educational reality

• It is expected that there will be an expansion in post-compulsory education as a result of the growing social awareness of researchers, which necessitates an increase in educational spending

The Second Requirement: Knowledge (Concept, Indicators, Levels, Challenges)

The concept of knowledge: It represents the extensive use of the database and the available information related to the human ability to visualize and comprehend the information that he reached for a specific phenomenon. Some define it as the realization, training and accumulation of knowledge that is related to a phenomenon, and that people reach through reliable information and available data. Some also see it as the basic pillars in investing in advanced industry, skilled labor, and production capacity that allows for higher value-added production [4].

Knowledge Indicators

The World Bank confirmed by using the "knowledge Economy Index" that the four indicators should be placed in the appropriate place as follows:

• Efficiency of manpower and its skills in applying knowledge and adding to it

• The institutional and economic aspect that operates according to the framework of the incentive system for work based on knowledge and its dissemination

• Concerted efforts in organizations, universities, research centers and networks of invention and innovation to adapt frozen knowledge according to local needs

• Providing the basic infrastructure for information according to a dynamic system to communicate with renewable knowledge and information processing

Levels of knowledge

Levy and Murnane dealt with a set of skill levels of knowledge used in the production process and the possibility of formulating the decision, including:

• Experienced brainstorming, in the sense of finding solutions to problems for which there are no foundations governing their solution, such as identifying a disease for a specific person

• Communication and “complex” deliberation, i.e. deliberation with people to obtain specific knowledge or to clarify and convince them of the results of a particular process

• Routine traditional knowledge according to the mental and logical framework of human beings, such as working to reduce cost rates in production companies

• Manual routine knowledge associated with physical strength using the counting system

• Manual non-routine knowledge associated with muscular strength with visual perception

Challenges of Education Associated with knowledge

The educational system related to knowledge reflects the country's potential in international competition, as it is able to create two directions of services, the first is to raise the capacity and potential of people "advanced human capital" on the basis of adopting knowledge for international competition, and secondly renewal in knowledge and people, both of which are capable of growth and expansion over time [5].

Based on the foregoing, we mention the most important challenges facing education associated with knowledge as follows:

• The social challenge associated with global openness through various means, including (the Internet - social media - etc.), which made the world in an electronic room, and it requires from government to do two things. The first is to take the necessary measures to limit the impact of openness. The second, awareness and guidance of the students to limit the role of social, cultural and media openness

• The political challenge represented by the lack of a real national vision and will to put  a future strategy for the educational system related to knowledge

• The educational curricula move away from renewable knowledge, which results in the difficulty of building an educational edifice that contains advanced minds for students in the educational process, as well as deficiencies in special and general competence and skill, and moving away from innovative education

• The economic challenge represented by a group of factors, the most important of which are (the necessary financial allocation for education, intense competition between educational systems, the supremacy of the single resource in income diversification, unskilled labor, weak education management)

Chapter Two

• The First Section: The Rate of Economic Return of the Educational System and Its Costs

• The First Requirement: the rate of economic return (concept, importance, types, methods of calculation)

Concept of Economic Return 

Human resources have qualitative indicators represented by creativity, invention, skill and programming. If the level of education rises, the income rises, which represents the economic return to education, that it increases with the increase in the productivity of the learner. So there is a positive relationship between education and productivity and thus the economic return, which represents a new income obtained by the educated worker added to his previous income as a result of the high level of education.

Moreover others have defined the economic return from education; it is the income resulting from investment in the production process, which means the use of the human resources currently available to obtain more in the future, while the sacrificed part of these human resources represents a cost. The return is the income that we obtained as a result of the sacrifice; also it defined the economic return as the return resulting from the additional education of the educated worker, who in turn leads to an increase in the national income.

Importance of the Economic Return of the Sducational System

The importance of the economic return of the educational system emerges from the interdependence between society, individuals and education, which results in returns for both individuals and society by creating a class that has the ability and skill to lead society towards progress, advancement and prosperity, and the country's need shows for educated human resources that engage in productive sectors instead of increasing Unemployment as a result of the increase in the number of graduates without work, so we notice a decline in the years of education, As well as the loss of the skill and ability gained from education so that it doesn't affect the society economically, the continuous education on an annual basis represented by the skill and experience that raises the productivity of the educated worker and thus the economic return to identify new mechanisms for investment in the educational system, which in turn expands this investment according to the economic return achieved by these new expansionary investments, We note a lot of advanced and developing economies those invested money in the educational system that was taken from the economic and social sectors, so it is necessary looking at the economic return of education with the sectors to know the expansion or rationalization of educational investment, as well as preparing an economic feasibility about the return that the educated worker gets and level of the current education  system, in the sense that the educated worker gets a greater income, and hence the importance of education stands out starting towards postgraduate studies, and extent of the country's support  or the futility of completing the study, as well as bridging the knowledge gap between the low enrollment rate of males and the high enrollment of females in most countries the world, particularly in higher education

Types of Economic Returns of the Social System

The economic return of the educational system divides into two parts:

• The Direct Return of the Educational System: It includes both the individual cash return and the social return

Individual Cash Return

The individual return is the additional income that the learner gets due to the high level of the educational system during the work times, and we note that the economic return represents direct cash income through presence during official working hours, after excluding the return from direct taxes, which leads to an increase in level of  the worker skills and thus his productivity. However the cash income that he gets after the official working hours by working in the office of the lawyer, accountant, jurist, it represents an indirect cash return.

The Social Return 

It represents all members of society that is the real increase is already achieved in the national income due to the expansion of investment in the educational system, through the increase in educational returns and the decrease in its costs after being subject to direct tax.

The Indirect Impact of the Educational System

It represents the positive indicators that resulted from the educational system outside of the education cycle and are difficult to calculate and measure, and they divide into indirect individual returns and indirect social returns.

Indirect Individual Returns

The non-monetary return that the educated worker gets as a result of the educational system represents (mental acquisition, building a strong and moral personality in society, self-confidence, Self-management, responsibility, and using leisure time).

Indirect Social Returns

The economic return from education is not limited to the student and the educated worker only, but includes all members of society. An educated mother teaches and educates her child at the same time, so she raises the production of her child, better than a mother who did not have the opportunity for education, so her ability to educate her child is limited.

Methods of Measuring the Economic Return of the Educational System

There are four methods followed in measuring the economic return of the educational system on the basis of varying wage rates for the educated worker according to the level of education. The methods are as follows

Method of Residues

This method is based on the holistic base of society, as education is one of the factors of production, which are participating in the production process through the link between GDP and the educational system. It is beginning from the comparison between the increase in the economic national product of a country at a specific period of time, and the highest increase achieved when exploiting the two production components (labor, capital), that is the increase in the national product exceeds the increase in the two components of production. This method is called the residues represented by education and progress. and technological development.

The Internal Rate of Return Method

This method uses to show the relationship between the cost of the educational system and the economic return. It is called the discount process by equating the current cost values with the currently discounted values of the expected return according to the following mathematical formula:

Whereas the Following Data Represent

• n - The last year within the specified time period

• Et - money paid in the future

• The interest rate

• Ct - current cost

Method of the Cost- economic Return

The economic return of the educational system is calculated individually directly based on a market discount rate, as its the result of the difference between the cost and the economic return of the educational system, so the revenue and financial spending are taken according to market prices and the remaining is considered a return from educational institutions.

Method of Prediction

This method is used according to forecasting the needs and requirements of the national economy to a labor force that has the ability and skill in the production process to contribute raising GDP, as a result of the high level of education, as well as the contribution of the educated private sector.

The second Requirement

• The cost of education (concept, importance, types and methods of calculation)the concept of the educational system cost

It represents the monetary amounts that the learner spends to obtain the education service, as it is defined as the financial values that the learner pays to acquire the skills, information and knowledge that move him from backwardness to progress and development to adapt to international development in the cost of economic, medical and industrial fields, and this cost varies from year to year according to the type of education and international changes. Also the cost of education is one of the contributing elements in the education process and has a relationship with the educational output, within quantitative indicators represented by the numbers of graduates, and qualitative indicators represented by the experience, skill and knowledge acquired by the learner after spending money on education.

The Importance of the Educational System Cost

The importance of  the educational system cost emerges through the observation, recording, and follow-up of the cost factors represented in financial funding, manpower, necessary resources, and service activities, in order to calculate the cost of education and then issue decisions to achieve efficiency in production at the lowest cost, as well as the importance increases through the following:

• Determine the cost of the education service represented by the annual actual cost for the student and the graduate. When estimating the amount of the cost, it is possible to determine the components of the final cost for each graduate and student, such as financing, spending, and reducing this expenditure. It also highlights the importance of cost in educational planning and study, and in the fair and optimal distribution of available resources granted to education

• Control over the educational system and evaluating its performance in order to reach the desired goal, as well as comparison of the actual cost is spent in the educational system and the planned cost to identify difficulties and problems, and put the proper solutions to them through implementation decisions

• Use of the planning in the cost of the educational system to achieve the required goals related to the available human, material and funding resources, as it is an effective tool to achieve those goals according to a precise and specific standard, also providing the information that its needed by the educational institutions budget, as well as the possibility of expanding acceptance or adherence

Types of Education System Costs and Methods of Calculating Them

• Current Cost: It represents the actual expenditure of service activities and the required resources that are consumed within a year, including (salaries, transportation, stationery, printing, fuel, conferences, travel expenses for scientific purposes, cultural and scientific activities, maintenance and restoration, machinery and equipment)

• Capital Cost: It represents the expense that it achieves a benefit for more than one year, including (purchases, laboratory needs, administrative and service buildings, public library expenses, major renovations)

• Direct Cost: It represents the resources that were used by the community in the production of the education commodity, such as current spending in form of wages and salaries of employees and the teaching and educational staff that have a role in preparing the learner

• Indirect Cost: It represents the total expenditure on the educational system for the education service indirectly, such as (maintenance, repairs, machinery, and family spending on students’ children, such as stationery, books, transportation, and communications)

• Opportunity Cost: It represents the monetary amounts that the educated individual sacrifices to educational institutions for obtaining the education service and acquiring knowledge and skill because these monetary amounts belong to the individual or society

As for the methods of calculating the cost through the following rates:

• Total educational cost = direct cost + indirect cost

•  Direct cost = total current spending on the educational institution during the year

• Indirect cost = total expenditure in the form of restoration, maintenance, textbooks, equipment, laboratories

• The annual cost of the student = the total cost divided by the numbers of direct students in education during the year

• The cost of the graduate student = the annual cost of the student * the period of study

• Opportunity cost = the difference between the income sacrificed by the student as a result of enrolling in education and what he gets paid while working in the market

• The social opportunity cost = the amount of income sacrificed by the society that invested in education instead of directing it towards the productive economic sectors

• Social costs = direct cost+social opportunity cost

The Second Section: Analysis of Actual Educational Spending in Iraq

Actual Educational Expenditure as a Percentage of Actual Government Expenditure

The data of Table 1 shows the development of actual government spending during the study period. It increased continuously during the period 2006-2014, reaching the highest amount 119,127,556 million dinars in 2013. This is due to the Iraqi government’s adoption of an expansionary fiscal policy as a result of the increase in revenues. Public financed from oil revenues, in addition to the high prices, production and export of oil, and providing the necessary infrastructure for the service and production sectors, as well as the establishment of schools, health centers and residential complexes.

Actual government spending decreased from 70,397,515 million dinars in 2015 to 67,067,437 million dinars in 2016, as a result of the restriction of government spending, with exception of increasing military spending to liberate lands from the terrorist ISIS, in addition to decrease in oil production and export as a result of the destruction of wells, transmission lines, and infrastructure in oil installations. While the actual government spending increased from 75490115 million dinars in 2017 to 80873189 million dinars in 2018 as a result of security stability and the completion of military spending.

As for the actual educational expenditure indicators, we note from the data of Table 1 that it fluctuates with ups and downs during the period 2006-2018, actual educational spending in Iraq had witnessed a continuous and rapid increase for 2006-2009, which it reached the highest amount 7470698 million dinars in 2009, and the lowest amount reached 2074119 million dinars in 2006. This is attributed to increasing students' interest in education and the high number of professors, as well as the increase in human resources within the Ministries of Education and Higher Education, which it necessitated expansion of the actual educational spending in different ways such as salaries and wages, providing infrastructure in schools and universities, as well as the provision of laboratories and specialized education centers.

The actual educational expenditure for  2011-2013 began to rise, as it reached the highest amount 10614927 million dinars in 2013, and the lowest amount 10157419 million dinars in 2011, as a result of increasing social awareness among students to complete their educational career, which requires provision of educational services, that resulted in the increase in educational spending,it also had held workshops and training for the educational staff, and the establishment of universities and colleges in various specializations, as well as the adoption of an unrestricted spending policy after the rise in oil prices, which financed the total revenues. While the period 2014-2018 witnessed a decrease in actual educational spending from 9936750 million dinars in 2014, to 4027563 million dinars in 2017, as a result of  political instability, as well as the Iraqi government’s preoccupation with military spending to confront the terrorist ISIS that has taken over On a large proportion of government spending to liberate those areas, and the actual educational spending has risen to 4075914 million dinars in 2018 as a result of security, social and economic stability, as well as the expansion of developing multiple scientific departments and continuing education centers.

Table 1: the Evolution of Actual Educational Spending As a Percentage of Actual Government Spending In Iraq for (2006-2018) Million Dinars

As for the indicator of the actual government spending percentage from actual educational spending, which shows the ability of the Iraqi government to manage the educational system using an actual spending policy. We note from the data of Table 1, an increase in the rate of the actual education spending of government spending during the period 2006-2009, as it reached the highest The rate was 13.07% in 2009, and the lowest percentage was about 5.34% in 2006. This is attributed to qualification of educational staff with internal and external training courses, as well as the establishment of schools and laboratories.

The period 2010-2018 witnessed an increase and decrease in the percentage of educational spending out of total expenditure, it is reaching the highest percentage 14.51% in 2016, and the lowest percentage amounting to about 5.03% in 2018, as a result of multiple variables that targeted the Iraqi economy from the financial crisis, the events of ISIS and drop in oil prices all of them led to a reduction in actual educational spending.

Current and Investment Educational Spending As a Percentage of Current and Investment Government Spending

The data of Table 2 shows that the current educational expenditure dominated the largest percentage during the study period, as it reached 6.8% in 2006, and its percentage increased from 11.9% in 2009 to 12.7% in 2012, and its percentage decreased from 12.4% in 2016 to 5.01% in 2018. With regard to percentage of educational investment spending from government spending, it reached 2.9% in 2006, and the percentage decreased to 2.8% in 2009, while the year 2010 witnessed an increase in its percentage to 3.5%, and its percentage decreased from 2% in 2012 to 0.4% in 2014 to 0.3% in 2018.

The accurate analysis of the relative importance in structure of the current educational and investment spending, and increasing the percentage of current operational spending during the study period in the form of employee salaries and commodity requirements. While the percentage of investment educational spending witnessed a decline during the study period except for the years 2010-2011, we note that spending is not proportional to the needs of the Ministry of Education, and Higher Education and Scientific Research in terms of modern technologies, as well as developing the capabilities and skills of teachers, and then results in a weak the role of government spending to manage the educational system.

Table 2: The Relative Importance of the Current Educational and Investment Spending Structure as a Percentage of the Current Government and Investment Spending For (2006-2018) Million Dinars

Source: The table prepared by the researcher based on Central Bank of Iraq, General Directorate of Statistics and Research, Annual Statistical Bulletin, Baghdad, different years. The Iraqi Ministry of Finance, the Iraqi general budget, the budget department, different years

Actual Educational Spending As a Percentage of the Fixed Gross Domestic Product

GDP reflects the direction of the economy's path towards development and progress in the productive sectors of the values of goods and services within the state during a year. We note data of the Table 3-5 that the fixed GDP in Iraq has achieved positive growth rates and it’s a steady increase during the period 2006-2013, it increased from 47851.4 million dinars in 2006 to 48510.6 million dinars in 2007, which its achieved a positive growth rate of 1.4%, as a result of rising oil prices, one of a barrel of oil reached 62.7 $ in 2007. While the fixed gross domestic product had witnessed an increase from 51716.6 million dinars in 2008 to 63650.4 million dinars in 2011, and its real growth rate was 10.2%, and it continued to rise to be 75658.8 million dinars in 2013, which has been achieved because of rising oil prices, but in 2014 It achieved a negative growth rate as it amounted to -3.8%, and the fixed gross domestic product reached 72736.2 million dinars, because of some Iraqi provinces were invaded by ISIS that destroyed the infrastructure of civil and oil facilities, which is the main source of the industry represented by the extractive industry.

Table 3: Actual Educational Expenditure as a Percentage of Fixed GDP for (2006-2018) Million Dinars

Source: The table prepared by the researcher based on:*Central Bank of Iraq, General Directorate of Statistics and Research, Annual Statistical Bulletin, Baghdad, different years. *Ministry of Planning, Central Statistical Organization, Annual Statistical Abstract, different years

In addition to the period 2015-2016 has witnessed rising the fixed gross domestic product, as it reached 80146.2 million dinars in 2016, with a growth rate of 7.5%, which is attributed to security stability, but the period 2017-2018, it achieved negative growth rates where the fixed gross domestic product reached 77531.7 million dinars in 2018 and a negative growth rate amounted to -0.7%, as a result of the destruction of the transport lines of the oil fields that were controlled by terrorism and then recovered, as well as the plundering of financial and human resources.

Table 4: Contents

But the indicator of actual educational expenditure as a percentage of the fixed gross domestic product, which reflects the efforts exerted by the government to manage the educational system, the high percentage of educational spending of fixed GDP indicates expansion of the government's role in the education system on the one side, and using financial resources in educational spending of fixed GDP on the other side. It is clear from the data of Table 3 that the percentage of actual educational expenditure from fixed GDP is in a gradual and continuous decline in most years of study, as it reached about 2.3% in 2006, and decreased to 1.9% in 2007, which indicates the government cares about the educational system. While the period 2008-2016 witnessed a significant decrease in the percentage of actual educational spending of fixed GDP, which highlights the weak role of the government in actual educational spending of fixed GDP. As for the period 2017-2018, the percentage of educational spending increased of fixed GDP, that it reached about 1.9% in 2018 because of the government's approach to manage the educational system through actual spending of financial resources obtained from GDP.

Table 5: List

1. Kane, S. “The wealth of the world and poverty of nations.” Finance & Development, vol. 36, June 1999.

2. Schultz, T.W. “Investment in human capital.” The American Economic Review, vol. 51, no. 1, 1961, pp. 1–17.

3. Lee, Sang Kyn. “Economic development, knowledge creation: The case of Korea.” Proceedings of the 34th Annual International Conference on System Sciences, 2001.

4. Levy, Frank and Richard J. Murnane. The New Division of Labor: How Computers Are Creating the Next Job Market. Princeton University Press, 2004.

5. Owolabi, S.A. and A.T. Okwu. “A quantitative analysis of the role of human resource development in economic growth in Nigeria.” European Journal of Economics, no. 27, 2010, ISSN 1450-2275.