FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 15, 2004

CONTACT
Hilary F. White - 781-276-9631 hilary.white@CPA-IQ.ORG
 

LOCALS OPEN LIBERATION SCHOOL
 

Hilla, Babil Province, Iraq. Local school officials, parents, and students opened their new school, Liberation School, on Friday, January 14. Liberation School will provide more than 400 boys and girls an opportunity to attend primary school in their own neighborhood. After being built, local school officials named it Liberation School.

Working with the neighborhood around CPA, we learned that children needed a closer school to attend. Before, the children had to walk a long distance and cross a busy street to arrive at their old school. Mr. Kadhum Mola, the General Director of the Babil Province Education Department, attended the event and said:

"Thank you for the new school. It solved a large problem here, because we used to have many accidents each year with the children crossing the street. We hope this will be a step towards strengthening relationships between us, and we hope this relationship will continue. It is not a relationship between governments but between people. It shows that we are all friends. Let us be the good people that push away the bad people."

Iraqi children represent the future of a democratic Iraq. Because CPA believes a good educational system is essential as Iraq progresses toward self-government, it has also provided funds to repair more than 1040 schools in Babil Province, built playgrounds and sports fields, provided youth centers, and has repaired child care centers in Babil Province. Building these schools and other youth facilities creates a better environment for children and increases opportunities for their futures as they learn in a free Iraq.

Asked why local school officials named it Liberation School, Mr. Kadhum explained:

"We named it Liberation School, because CPA and the Coalition built this school after the liberation of Iraq. This name will be between our people, the Iraqis, and the Americans. This school represents the bond of love between people. They are existing bonds sitting on loyalty, faithfulness, and love."

The school project employed local people from the community, and CPA provided funding for local contractors to open up the new school. Seized from former regime assets, the money is now being used for the Iraqi people.

Assisting the people in Babil Province is an important goal for the Coalition Provisional Authority. It is part of a larger initiative to help Iraqis as they move toward a free, democratic Iraq.

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