80 Afghans begin Korean Vo-tech program

PARWAN PROVINCE, Afghanistan – Eighty Afghan men from Kapisa, Parwan and Panjshir Provinces began the second class at the Korean Vocational Training Center on Bagram Airfield March 7.

The center is funded by the Korean International Cooperation Agency and run in partnership with the Republic of Korea Provincial Reconstruction Team. The center teaches Afghan citizens skills needed for jobs in technical vocational fields. The courses offered at the school include automotive maintenance, construction, electricity, welding and computer. All classes include basic English langue instruction.  

“I hope to learn something here, and after that, I will help the people of Afghanistan and my family,” said Arab Jan a student in the computer class at the KVTC. “We passed our exam. Now I want to finish at the school and go get a job.”

The KVTC staff also helps graduates find jobs. All 85 students from the first class found employment; 80 are working on Bagram Airfield or in Kabul, Afghanistan, and the other five are instructors with the school.
 
To study at the center, students must pass an entrance exam to show they have the basic skills and knowledge needed to attend the courses.

“I challenge each of you to stand up and be worthy of the opportunity you have been given,” said U.S. Army Col. Benjamin J. Corell, a Strawberry Point, Iowa, native, and commander of 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division, Task Force Red Bulls, and a guest speaker at the event. “While many would like to have the opportunity to study and learn a trade here, only a few have been chosen. You…have been given a great opportunity to better yourselves, your families and your country. What you do with this opportunity is up to you.”

The KVTC’s mission is to provide the training and experience Afghans need to rebuild their infrastructure, support their families and thereby help the people of Afghanistan to improve their future.

“Dear students, you are the future of Afghanistan,” said Abdul Baseer Salangi, Parwan Province governor. “Korea and America started out as struggling countries just like Afghanistan, and now they are helping us and our future. These countries are developed now because of their education -- this is the education that you are going to get here. If we try our best then we can develop our country.”

Corell said Afghanistan can prosper through programs the KVTC offers.

“What happens here is vitally important to the future of Afghanistan,” said Corell. “To truly rebuild this country takes programs and institutions like this, and who better to know and understand this, than the Korean people who themselves had to rebuild their country after a debilitating and destructive conflict. This is how you rebuild a country – one person at a time.”

There are many lessons the Koreans can share with the new students including one that Salangi used in his speech.

“To come into this world poor is not our fault, but to go from it poor is our fault,” quoted Salangi from a Korean scholar.