Release # 2007-336
HERAT, Afghanistan (23 April) - International Security Assistance Force's (ISAF) Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) Herat recently opened a school in Shindand district.
Khodaidad Arfani, the governor of Shindand, joined hundreds of people at the inauguration ceremony of Khaja Jangali School in west Herat city. PRT Herat and the Civil-Military Cooperation (CIMIC) financed the $200,000 school.
Col. Pietro Luigi Monteduro, PRT Herat commander, Maj. Marco Fornasaris, CIMIC commander, Gole Agha, chief of Shindand Police, Aqa Sarwari, deputy of the Ministry of Education, and local elders and officials attended the ceremony.
"Today parents and students trust us more than before because their children have a better place to learn in," Governor Arfani said.
Colonel Monteduro echoed the governor's comment on the benefit of the new school. "This school will help you to learn better," the colonel said.
Shindand officials promised their Italian friends that they will keep the school safe and use it to educate Afghanistan's future.
Khaja Jangali has 10 classrooms and laundry facilities and can accommodate more than 1,000 students. Previously, students studied under a variety of conditions in an old building and under tents in all types of weather. Overcrowding made it hard for students to learn. In addition, parents did not send their children to the old school because of the threat to their children's health.
"Now I am sure about the school situation, and my child can study without any problem in the standardized classrooms," said Sanaz, a mother who will send her child to school.
Last summer Samara, a student, suffered a severe stomach ache because of the hot conditions under the tent. "I can imagine this summer with fans in cool weather," said a hopeful Samara.
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