Now Zad school enrollment doubles, more renovations planned

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN

01.11.2011

Courtesy Story

ISAF Joint Command

KABUL, Afghanistan – When the Marines of the civil affairs team in support of 1st Battalion, 8th Marines, Regimental Combat Team 2, arrived to Now Zad district, Helmand province, an estimated 200 students were in attendance at the schools in the local area. Now nearly 500 children attend classes here daily.

“We’re extremely happy with the number of kids we see in the school right now,” said Cpl. Dustin Brians, a civil affairs specialist, in support of 1st Battalion, 8th Marines, Regimental Combat Team 2. “There are more and more kids there every week and attendance continues to grow.”

One teacher noted that classroom attendance has more than doubled in recent months, indicating that the local children in the area want to learn.

During class, students learn about the Quran and other religious studies. Their classes also include mathematics, geography and spelling.

In the expectation of more students, Marines and teachers have already laid plans for major renovations on the current building.

“The old school the kids were going to was basically destroyed,” said Brians. “The roof had collapsed in a lot of the rooms. The glass windows were all shattered and broken, and the doors were off their hinges.”

Since then, Brians and his team, along with local Afghan workers have helped to clean up the school, and are working to improve the existing buildings the children currently receive classes in.

Once the funding and paperwork is complete, the construction phase of renovating the school will begin.

“This is a great program for Afghanistan,” said Lance Cpl. Bowen Yu, a civil affairs specialist, in support of 1st Battalion, 8th Marines. “When we’re gone, these kids will be running this place. Giving them a place for an education is the least we can do.”

• Date Taken: 01.11.2011
• Date Posted: 01.11.2011 07:37
• Story ID: 63353
• Location: KABUL, AF