| L. Paul Bremer, Iraq's civilian administrator, took another step Saturday toward fully restoring Iraqi sovereignty by a June 30 deadline, turning over control of a second ministry to the country's interim leaders. The education ministry became the second to gain its independence from the Coalition Provisional Authority, which has ruled Iraq since toppling the former regime on April 9, 2003. On March 28, Bremer gave interim health minister Khidr Abbas the key to his ministry, one of the 25 that form the transitional government in Iraq. ''As we look to the construction of Iraq's future, no ministry, no part of the government, is more important than the ministry of education,'' Bremer said at the hand-over. Interim education minister Alaaeddin Alwan said one of his priorities will be ''restoring Iraqi education to at least reach the level of the 1980s,'' which marked the onset of a decline. He said the ministry will train the 290,000 teachers in cooperation with the United States Agency for International Development and the U.N. agencies responsible for children and educational issues. The World Bank has agreed to give the ministry a $100 million grant for infrastructure projects and new books, Alwan said. |