Repair works launched on Kandahar teacher training centre

KANDAHAR CITY (Pajhwok): Repair works have been launched on a high schoolteacher training centre in southern Kandahar province, a year after the building was damaged in a Taliban group attack.

The coordinated attack left at least 10 people killed and wounded and seven departments and the meeting hall of the training centre damaged, said Zalmai Toryal, the centre director.

Since the attack, he said, he had sent dozens of letters to the governor’s house, the directorate of teacher training and the education ministry, but failed to elicit a positive response.

However, as part of his efforts, Toryal approached Save the Children, an international non-governmental organization, to help reconstruct the building.

He said Save the Children had pledged one million and 270,000 afghanis in assistance for the repair works which they had launched. He said the repair works would take a few weeks to complete. However, he said the assistance was insufficient and they needed more assistance to repair and reactivate the seven departments and provide them needed equipment.

Fazl Ahmad, a student at the teacher training centre, told Pajhwok Afghan News the two-storey building was constructed with Canada’s assistance following hectic efforts of the provincial education department. But the structure after being completed was damaged in the Taliban attack before its inauguration, he said.

He expressed his happiness over the launch of repair works on the centre and said students had to face a number of problems as a result of the damage.

Ahmad urged all parties to the conflict to avoid causing damage to education centres and public places during their operations.

Hundreds of male and female teachers are currently being trained at the training centre.

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