Local school gets new classrooms

Courtesy Photo | Abdul Hussein Abbas, the Abdil Nassir Primary School headmaster, cuts the ribbon opening the four room and terrace addition funded by coalition forces Feb. 7. The addition expanded the school from eight rooms to 12 and helped alleviate overcrowding at the school. The 9th Cuscatlán Battalion from El Salvador oversaw construction of the project.  

AL KUT, IRAQ

02.13.2008

Courtesy Story

Multi-National Division-Central

Sgt. 1st Class Stacy Niles
214th FB, PAO

FORWARD OPERATING BASE DELTA, Iraq – Three hundred students in the village of al Yousofia gained four new classrooms and a terrace at their school Feb. 7.

The addition at Adil Nassir Primary School expanded the school from eight rooms to 12 rooms and added a terrace, said Lt. Col. Tito Miranda, the 9th Cuscatlán Battalion's civil affairs commander.

The school houses grades one through six and the addition helped relieve overcrowding at the school, said Miranda. After the sixth grade, some students continue their secondary education at the al Kut high school, but most go to work.

An agricultural community that grows onions, Al Yousofia village is home to approximately 500 families and has benefited from three other coalition projects - an improved road, a water compact union and a primary health care clinic, said Lt. Col. Carlos Tejada, the Salvadoran battalion's civilian military cooperation commander.

"Iraq is a very rich country in natural resources, but it is very poor and the people lack a lot of basic services," said Lt. Col. Roberto Soriano, the Cuscatlán battalion executive officer.
Al Yousofia village is one of the closest villages to FOB Delta.

• Date Taken: 02.13.2008
• Date Posted: 02.13.2008 16:34
• Story ID: 16334
• Location: AL KUT, IQ