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By Sgt. Maj. Paul Hicks
KABUL - Afghan national police and ISAF members recently provided school supplies to students at the Farida Balkhy Girls' School in Balkh province.
About 100 girls received school bags, pencil cases and other supplies from Afghan policemen, military police from Regional Command-North and members of the German Police Project Team.
"We enjoy being in this beautiful country, and we see it as our task to support the Afghan people in their reconstruction efforts," said Inspector Olaf M. of the GPPT during a short speech to the teaching staff and pupils of the school. "This school equipment and pencil cases shall be our little contribution to the further support of education in your country."
Farida Balkhy Girls' School is located in one of the northern districts of Balkh, where four military police and four German policemen form a joint team of mentors, which accompanies the Afghan police at their checkpoints and patrols. In performing their duties they established contact with the girls' school, where about 3,200 pupils are being taught.
Balkh City is located about 15 kilometers west of the provincial capital of Mazar-e-Sharif and has about 12,000 inhabitants. Many of the girls have to walk three to five kilometers to attend school, which is in need of restoration. Most of the girls are being taught in tents.
Torn tarpaulins with holes and makeshift tent poles are characteristic of the school's current situation. So are the wobbly chairs on which the girls sit patiently even in snowy or rainy weather. If the rainfalls are strong it rains straight through the tent.
Mohammad Hanif, of the Afghan Ministry of Education, explained that because of a lack of financial resources available it will take a long time before all the girls can be taught in solid buildings and real classrooms.
"Therefore I am very happy about these small steps, with the school bags and school supplies," he said. "I thank the German military and the German police for their help and support. It is very important for our country that our children get a good education and later on good training. And for this it is important that we can continue to count on the international community's support," said Mohammad Hanif.
The school was built in 1978 from donations of the population and funds from the Afghan Ministry of Education. The school will be expanded in the future to provide buildings for the girls. The military police and the German police intend to continue assisting Farida Balkhy Girls' School in the future and will make sure to visit the school on their joint patrols with the Afghan police.
| Date Taken: | 04.22.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 04.22.2010 07:18 |
| Story ID: | 48503 |
| Location: | KABUL, AF |
| Web Views: | 190 |
| Downloads: | 161 |
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