From MNF-I, Iraqi, U.S. Forces Support Basrah Schools.
BASRAH — An Iraqi Army (IA) civil military operations team along with support from a Dallas based Army Reserve unit provided humanitarian assistance to some public schools here, Jan 15.
IA Soldiers from the 14th Division along with Soldiers of the 490th Civil Affairs Battalion, traveled to the Al Zubair and Karowaan kindergartens in the Zubair district to deliver school supplies and make further refurbishment assessments.
The Zubair school, with 140 students and a teaching faculty of 18, was the first school the IA Soldiers visited.
The head master, Aroba Daod Salman, said the students and teachers were excited and happy to welcome the Soldiers to their school.
"These visits will make the children want to help the Iraqi Army and Police,” said Salman.
Salman helped Col. Mohammed Taher Mahee, 14th IA division chief of civil military operations, hand out backpacks, pencils and writing tablets to the students.
"Iraqi public schools are a meeting place for many ethnic, religious and social statuses of children and there are no better people to get education that will help better the country," Mahee said.
Mahee said he and his Soldiers have visited 16 schools and determined them to be in need of refurbishment. Several of the schools had students who were in need of school supplies.
After the assessments, recommendations were forwarded to the Iraqi Government’s Department of Education.
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