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U.S. soldiers with the 44th Corps Support Battalion compete on the field with the team from the newly renovated Ain Sefny High School, shown in the distance, Sept. 18, 2004. The Shekhan District mayor hosted the celebration in appreciation of the school’s completed renovations worth approximately $55,000, which will benefit the school’s 520 students. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Aaron Ritter

Shekhan District School
Completes Renovations

520 high school students will benefit from rebuilding efforts.

By U.S. Army Spc. Aaron Ritter

MOSUL, Iraq, Sept. 20, 2004 -— High school students in the Shekhan District may have put off the start of the school year by a couple of weeks but on Sept. 18, Ain Sefny residents and Multinational Forces alike celebrated the completion of renovations to the Ain Sefny High School.

Nearly 520 students will benefit from the three months of reconstruction efforts by local contractors. The $55,000 project included new doors, windows, paint, electrical work, furniture, computers, heating and cooling systems, water tanks and the repair of 930 square meters of walkway and 60 meters of the school’s exterior wall.

“Years of destruction under the Saddam regime left the school looking more like a prison,” said Dr. Basel Joky, the mayor of Shekhan district. “Now, it’s a place where students are motivated to learn and instructors are proud to teach without being affected by adverse weather, inadequate lighting or a lack of running water.”

Last winter, many classes were cancelled because the classrooms were too cold for the students.

U.S. soldiers from the 44th Corps Support Battalion have worked closely with Joky and the local mahktars to assess the region’s needs and fund regional projects. Local leaders identified the reconstruction of the high school as the highest priority.

Mrad Gavan Ali, the school’s headmaster, said the improvements have gone a long way to alleviate many of the problems students and teachers have faced in the past.

“This is important to everyone in the community because the foundation of any successful community is to provide our children with the proper education,” he said.

“Even when local students didn’t have a school to attend, they held classes in someone’s house instead,” said Capt. Clint Hanna, the civil military affairs officer for the battalion. “The communities’ emphasis is always on education.”

To celebrate the opening of the school, Joky hosted a futball match between the battalion soldiers and the high school’s futball team and held a luncheon where community leaders and students applauded the school’s win over the Multinational Forces.

Despite losing to the school’s futball team, the soldiers of the 44th Corps Support Battalion were happy to be able to provide the much needed improvements and hope to make more progress in improving the region’s education system in the future.