BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan, April 28, 2015 – Saying that education is another way of helping provide security to Afghanistan, members of the U.S. military’s Task Force Solid gathered with Parwan Provincial Governor Abdul Basir Salangi and members of the Charikar community Sunday at the Charikar Girls High School to announce the winners of the Parwan High School math competition.
"Today we recognized the 60 competition winners," said Maj. Steven Beard, Task Force Solid executive officer. "We believe that education is another way to provide security to Afghanistan. These students are going to go out, get an education and become teachers, lawyers and doctors and help stabilize the country and ensure it has a bright future."
Along with certificates, each of the individual winners also received backpacks provided by coalition partners from the Czech Republic that will help them as they pursue their education after high school.
"The backpacks included college-level books with the intent that the winners will be able to use them if they attend a university someday," said Beard. "In Afghanistan, books are too expensive for most students, so providing them this head start with books will give them a better opportunity to attend a university if they choose that path."
The individual winners were not the only ones who received supplies during the ceremony.
"We gave boxes of notebooks to the principal of the Charikar Girls High School to thank them for letting us use their school for today's ceremony," said Capt. Nicole Gallup, 3rd Infantry Division Headquarters and headquarters battalion operations officer. "The inside of the notebooks are blank so the students can use them for school work, but the outside covers depict females in all types of jobs like construction or education."
This is just one of the education projects that Task Force Solid is working on. In the near future, they will rededicate a girl's school after they finish construction on a raised footpath since the location is prone to flooding, and they will also provide tents to areas that do not have a permanent structure for school.