Afghans lay stones to being school construction

News: Afghans lay stones to being school construction

5th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

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Story by Sgt. Warren Wright Subscribe To This Journalist

Staff Sgt. Warren Wright

Government representatives from Paktya Province pray in a ceremony marking the beginning of construction of the Center for Educational Excellence, a new school in Zormot district in Paktya province, Afghanistan, Sept. 7. Afghans marked the beginning of the project with a ceremony in which they laid stones wrapped in decorative paper in pre-excavated holes.

FORWARD OPERATING BASE GARDEZ, Afghanistan — Paktya province government representatives and religious leaders, along with members of the Paktya Provincial Reconstruction Team working with Paratroopers from 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, travelled to Zormot district, September 7, for a ceremony marking the beginning of construction on the Center for Educational Excellence, a school in Paktya province, Afghanistan.

Afghan government officials and religious leaders, along with U.S. Army Lt. Col. Richard Potterton, a native of Denver and the executive officer from the Paktya PRT flew to Zormot in the morning and linked up with members of the PRT all ready in Zormot. The group then walked to the site where the school will be constructed.

Afghans marked the beginning of the project with a ceremony in which they laid stones wrapped in decorative paper in pre-excavated holes.

The project, which is being funded and overseen by the Paktya PRT, started about six months ago when the Afghan Provincial Development Council named the project and approached the PRT for funding, said Potterton.

Once the project was approved, local contractors bid on the job, and once the contractor was selected, construction could begin on the school.

The PRT will do quality control inspections of the construction at least once a week, along with the other projects currently going on in the area, Potterton added.

Once finished, the school will have 16 classrooms and the capacity to seat between 300 and 400 students at a time.

Construction of the school is taking place in a relatively secure area of Zormot district, said Potterton. The hope is that people in less secure areas of Zormot will see the projects and will work toward making their area more secure so that they can benefit from similar projects.

Potterton currently projects that the school should be completed sometime in the spring or summer of 2010.