ANSF and ISAF Help Local School Ease Overcrowding

MAZAR-E-SHARIF, AFGHANISTAN

10.13.2010

Story by Sgt. 1st Class John Queen 

1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division

MAZAR-E-SHARIF, Afghanistan – Members of the Afghan National Security Force, along with their International Security Assistance Force partners joined a host of local dignitaries recently for a ground breaking ceremony at Aliabad School in Mazar-e-Sharif located in northern Afghanistan.

The ceremony marked the official start of construction on two, 10-room school buildings at the facility.

“Aliabad School was a project that was started by the Aliabad people,” said Capt Timothy Williams, commander of Headquarters Company, 1st Brigade Special Troops Battalion from the 10th Mountain Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team. “They have approximately 3,000 students being educated in 10 classrooms which means they have to separate their school day into three separate school blocks.”

With roughly 1,000 students per learning block, the children are jammed into each classroom making it an uncomfortable learning environment.

When the 1BSTB arrived in Northern Afghanistan last April, it received a request from the school asking for assistance. The idea was to create a short-term fix that would ease classroom congestion while the permanent building was being constructed.

“We brought in four tents to help facilitate and make space for the students before the school was expanded,” Williams said.

Once the temporary structures were in place, the planning was put into motion for a building project that would provide the faculty a total of 30 rooms with the overall goal of alleviating the overcrowding and generating an atmosphere more conducive to learning.

“We began a project to build 20 classrooms – which will provide them 30 classrooms for the 3,000 students,” Williams explained. “The 20 classroom annex edition was started last week and it should be completed prior to 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division redeploying back to the United States.”

During the event, the Director of Education spoke to the sizable crowd of elders and community representatives as students from the school watched. He explained that he was doing his best to provide more schools for the children of the region. He also said he believes the additions to these schools are necessary due to the number children that need an education.

Once the speeches were complete, the crowd moved to the site where the building foundation will be laid. There the group made several dedications and place specially wrapped stones to mark the cornerstone of the foundation.

Before the ceremony ended, members of the Afghan National Army’s 209th Corps distributed a variety of school supplies to the students. Additionally, they provided many of the teachers’ with new chalkboards.

The Aliabad School is just one of several projects the ANSF and members of ISAF are collaborating on with each other in Mazar-e-Sharif. Together they seek to offer a bright future for people of the region.

• Date Taken: 10.13.2010
• Date Posted: 10.13.2010 15:06
• Story ID: 58033
• Location: MAZAR-E-SHARIF, AF