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Boys drawing at a school on Baharka camp for internally displaced people on the outskirts of Erbil Picture: UNICEF/Yar

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More than half a million Iraqi children are estimated to be at work rather than at school as violence and displacement hurt the income of millions of families, according to the United Nations childrens鈥� agency . 听听

The number of children currently working, more than听575,000, has doubled since 1990 鈥� the year when Iraq attacked听Kuwait, setting off a chain of events that led to the 2003听United States-led invasion and the sectarian strife that continues to听this day.

鈥淚 used to go to school and work here for half a day with a听low salary,鈥� 12-year-old Ali Hussien Khudhair, who works the听angle grinder in a blacksmith鈥檚 shop in Baghdad, said.

鈥淚 quit school and started working full time here and he听(the owner) gives me full wages,鈥� he told Reuters TV.

UNICEF said since the beginning of 2014, almost 10%听of Iraqi children 鈥� more than 1.5 million 鈥� have been forced to听flee their homes because of violence. In 2014, the Islamic State听group took control of large areas in northern and western Iraq.

A third grade class at the Baharka school听Picture: UNICEF/Yar

Nearly one in five schools is closed due to conflict and听almost 3.5 million children of school-age are missing out on an听education, UNICEF said in a report on June 30.

In total, at least 3.6 million children in Iraq are at risk听of death, serious injury, sexual violence, abduction and听recruitment into armed groups, an increase of 1.3 million since听the past 18 months, according to UNICEF.

鈥淚 wish to go back to school and play with my friends,鈥澨齂hudhair said. 鈥淚 would be glad to go back and learn to read听and write; I will be ashamed to have to say that I can鈥檛 read听when I grow up.鈥�

About 4.7 million Iraqi children need humanitarian aid,听while many families now face deteriorating conditions following听military operations against Islamic State, according to UNICEF.

鈥淚鈥檓 working and learning the craft, it鈥檚 better than听school. What rights do graduates have? They are selling water on听streets,鈥� 14-year-old Karrar Jaffar, who works in a听car mechanic鈥檚 shop, said.

鈥淭he government does nothing. It鈥檚 better for me to learn a听craft,鈥� he said, his hands smeared with brake fluid.

The , the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, covers humanitarian news, women鈥檚 rights, corruption and climate change.