Three separate "schools" share the same 12-classroom building - about 1,600 pupils in total - arriving in morning, afternoon and evening shifts.
"The school is crowded and in constant need of repairs," said headmaster Ali Abid Sulaibi. "The most important thing is the plumbing. The pupils' toilets are closed because of the bad sewage, and there is no running water."
At the al-Fadhila secondary girls' school nearby, 50-70 teenage girls are packed into each classroom, with three at each desk that is supposed to seat two.
"How can they understand and cooperate with the teacher inside the classroom?" said English teacher Maani al-Yassiri.
FINDING ROOM FOR REFUGEES
After years of violence and upheaval, 2.7 million Iraqis are displaced within the country and 2.4 million have fled abroad, according to the International Organisation of Migration.
Schools in violent areas have shut, while schools in safer areas have been overwhelmed with children from displaced families.
"We are left with a simple choice. Abandon these children in the streets to be victims of illiteracy and ignorance, or open our hearts and classrooms despite their being crowded," said Education Minister Khozaei.
At the al-Wathba secondary school for girls in Alawi, a central Baghdad neighbourhood seen as safer than other areas, father Abu Sundus arrived with a letter from the Education Ministry giving him permission to enrol his two daughters.
Five days before, gunmen had sprayed his house with bullets. He decided it was no longer safe to let the girls attend their neighbourhood school, so they fled their house.
"My girls were comfortable in their old school. Of course they will be affected. They were used to their teachers, their girlfriends. It is a heavy burden on them to move," he said.
"When I was their age, education was better. The teacher was giving the best that he could give the pupils. Now, how can a teacher do his job and while getting paid only 120,000 dinars a month (50 pounds) which buys just four gas canisters?"
Yet despite all the risks and hardship, parents say their children still beg them to let them go to school: often it is the only opportunity children have to leave the oppressive confinement of homes in a battle-zone.
Thamir Saadoun's father said the boy wouldn't step pestering him to take him to school, even though it was closed because of the fighting in Sadr City.
"We are afraid of snipers but he insists and going to school. He says 'I love school'."
