ISLAMABAD: Schools are now completely inaccessible to more than two million children in Pakistan. According to a recent report, around 27,000 schools have been destroyed or damaged in the country’s history.
“Almost overnight, millions of children in Pakistan lost family members, homes, safety and their education in dire circumstances,” said Robert Jenkins, UNICEF’s global director for education, upon returning from flood-affected areas in Pakistan. “
“Now, faced with the uncertainty of when they will be able to return to school, and having already endured one of the world’s longest school closures due to the pandemic, they face yet another threat to their future. are doing.”
More than two months have passed. A devastating flood covered large areas of Pakistan. Only the roofs of school buildings are visible in flooded areas. A UNICEF press release said it is estimated that it will take weeks, months for the floodwaters to recede completely.
In addition to learning spaces, schools are important in providing children with access to health care, psychosocial support, and immunizations. The longer schools remain closed, the more likely children are to drop out altogether, the more likely they are to be forced into child labor and child marriage, and to face other forms of exploitation and abuse. will The worst affected districts were already among the most vulnerable communities in Pakistan.
Before the current emergency, one-third of boys and girls in flood-affected areas were already out of school and 50 percent of children were stunted. Prolonged school closures can exacerbate these deprivations. During the peak of the pandemic, schools across Pakistan were closed in whole or in part for 64 weeks between March 2020 and March 2022 – some of the longest school closures in the world.
In less than six months, the devastation caused by severe flooding means that school children have once again missed out on learning. Extensive damage to infrastructure, including electricity and internet connectivity, has made distance learning largely inaccessible.
UNICEF has set up more than 500 temporary education centers in the worst-affected districts and helped provide educational materials to teachers and children.
“For some children, who have never attended school before, these learning centers are their first experience of education. We need to do everything we can to ensure that when They go back to their homes and continue to learn,” Jenkins said.