Posted By:
Catherine Moy
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If it isn’t enough that U.S. troops have liberated the people of Iraq from the Butcher of Baghdad and dropped violence to a level below some neighborhoods in Detroit, then add this to their resumes: new schools and better education for Iraqi children.

Go to Defense Link to get the lowdown on the great work being done.

Here’s part of the story:

CAMP TAJI, Iraq, Aug. 6, 2008 - For five years, U.S. soldiers have built and refurbished schools in Iraq and have supplied them with better resources with hopes of providing a better education for Iraqi children.

Since the liberation of Iraq, the population of Tarmiyah has grown. People from Baghdad flocked to the area looking for a safer place to live. Because of the flux of people, many schools are overcrowded.

Other schools in the area run two shifts daily while trying to provide education for as many students as possible, with each class consisting of up to 60 students. To help redistribute the growing number of students, more schools were needed.

The Sadiq Secondary School had fallen into disrepair, and the Qadasiya Primary School was only a shell that was being built when funds were cut short due to al-Qaida in Iraq obtaining a strong hold over the city in 2006 and 2007.

There is a huge difference from how it was before,” Tofek Sermon, headmaster of the Sadiq school, said. “It’s still not perfect, but it is an improvement for the students.”

Upon completion, each school will provide room for up to 600 students to learn.

“Once this [Qadasiya] school is finished, we will be able to cut classes down by half the amount of students and provide better education for the children,” said Abib al Hamed Majed Mehsen, a member of the Education Ministry committee.