Back to school in Salavat

By Captain Mélina Archambault

On 7 November 2010, when C (‘Crazy’) Company of the 1st Battalion, Royal 22e Régiment Battle Group arrived in Salavat, a school full of pupils was a far-away dream. A tunbledown building, no teachers, a stubborn community still under insurgent influence — all these factors made the achievement of this goal unlikely. However, after five months of hard work by the Crazy team, more than 200 pupils are showing up at school every morning.

Located in the eastern end of Panjwa’i District, Salavat has a population of about 1,500. Until very recently, the village was deprived of clear leadership, not least because the Taliban had assassinated the malik. The handful of elders who stepped in might have been under insurgent influence because they blocked any and every development initiative proposed for the village despite the residents’ desire to see the school in Salat reopen its doors after a decade of silence.

Then, after some time, the son of the assassinated malike returned from Kandahar City to take up his father’s post. Young and dynamic, he supported C Company’s initiatives to open the school in order to restore the image of his home village. The winds of change were in the air.

During the weeks following the renovation of Salavat School, the children still held back, as the elders refused to support education in the area. Despite the elders’ resistance, C Company soldiers and their partners in the Afghan National Army started knocking on doors to announce to the villagers that their school was finally open. On the first official day of classes, not one child came to school — a hard blow. It was essential not to abandon the project, however, and 23 children came on the second day. On the third day, there were 53, and more than 90 on the fourth day. Today, more than 200 pupils put on their little backpacks to go to school, under the delighted gaze of the guys from C Company, who watch from their patrol base a few steps away.

It was tempting to declare victory, but there are still serious challenges ahead. In Panjwa’i, you don’t find a teacher by bumping into him in the street. Teachers are particular targets of Taliban threats, and education is a dangerous profession. At the start, the children learned the basics from C Company’s interpreters. Then the village’s young malik reached into his own pocket to provide escorts for six teachers to travel from Kandahar City in the morning and back home at night, so the school could meet the demand. The insurgents continued to menace the children, threatening to cut off their noses and ears if they persisted in seeking an education. Despite this intimidation, attendance stayed high, demonstrating not only how important school is to them but also that the security situation had improved enough that the influence of the insurgency is waning.

C Company gets a pat on the back from Major Jean-Christian Marquis, the Officer Commanding. For so many months, they have patrolled night and day, cleared the roads of improvised explosive devices, rebuilt schools, and worked to win over the people. All of that work has been done to make it possible for children of Salavat to be persuaded of the importance of school after half a generation has been wasted, to regain the power of learning, and to permit the construction of a solid foundation for the future of this area of Afghanistan.

Capt Mélina Archambault is currently serving as the Public Affairs Officer with the 1 R22eR Battle Group. Capt Nick Paquet, who took the photographs, commands the Civil-Military Cooperation (CIMIC) Detachment on Roto 10.