Reconstruction Team to Build 29 Schools (Boys & girls trade learning in open fields for classrooms.)

Defense News ^ | Ensign Christopher Weis

[SandRat]

KHOWST, Afghanistan, Aug. 28, 2007 — In this rugged border province formerly known for its notorious al-Qaeda training camps, 88,000 Afghan students sit in open fields attending classes, enduring hours under the scorching sun for any opportunity to learn and build a better life.

"Khowst used to be considered a place of death. Now it is a place for new life."

Khowst Gov. Arsala Jamal

One of those students is Farishta, a 12-year-old girl from Jaji Maidan, an outer district of Khowst Province. Speaking just two miles from the Pakistani border, Farishta forcefully explains her commitment to education.

“All I want to do is go to university and become a doctor,” she said.

Standing with Farishta, Provincial Reconstruction Team Cmdr. Dave Adams and Khowst Gov. Arsala Jamal enthusiastically explain how they will help Afghan students like Farishta fulfill their dreams. The Aug. 9 launching of a combined $4 million program to build 29 provincial boy’s and girl’s schools is designed to do just that.

Jamal could not contain his enthusiasm. “Khowst used to be considered a place of death,” he said. “Now it is a place for new life.” The province’s Director of Education Syed Aziz Hashimy agrees.

“If the pace of school building continues over the next two years, no child will be under the open sky or in a tent for classes,” Hashimy said.

The school-building initiative will be especially meaningful for Khowst’s girls. Many young girls like Farishta, a name that means “angel” in Pashto, were previously forced to stay in their family’s compounds and were often denied the opportunity to complete high school, much less university.

However, the reconstruction team's building efforts are designed to bring new hope.

Today, the tribal elders across Khowst are encouraging more girls to attend the new schools. By working with local contractors, the Provincial Reconstruction Team expects the first schools to open by early October, and will finish all 29 schools by the following spring.

“Once the door to education has been opened, the door to ignorance is closed,” said a deputy provincial council member.

For Khowst’s students, the school’s doors will soon be wide open.

[SandRat]

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