More than 2 million children unable to go to school due to floods in Pakistan

More than 2 million children remain out of school in Pakistan due to the devastating floods that hit the country during the monsoon and destroyed or partially damaged about 27,000 educational centers, UNICEF warned in a statement on Thursday.

Despite the fact that two months have elapsed since the end of the heavy rains, the organization warned that the water level in several of the most affected areas barely makes it possible to distinguish the highest part of some schools, so it will take weeks and even months to access them.

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”Faced with the uncertainty of when they will be able to return to school and having endured some of the longest school closures in the world due to the pandemic, (children) they are experiencing another threat to their future.”, Unicef ​​Global Director of Education said in the statement, Robert Jenkins, after having visited the area.

This destruction has aggravated an already fragile situation in the region, where a third of the children in the affected districts they did not attend school even before the floods, while 50% suffered from stunted growth attributed to child malnutrition.

“Never before have we seen a worse situation in terms of education being seriously affected, and we don’t know how long it will last”Muhammed Hanif, the father of a school-age child from the southern province of Sindh, told Efe.

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The authorities of this province, which was the most affected, are still trying to drain the floodwaters, which, however, are still present in 30% of the territory, according to local media.

”we are powerless”, Hanif added, recalling that the students were coming off a long hiatus due to the covid-19 pandemic.

The children had barely returned to classrooms in March this year, after the country’s schools had been totally or partially closed since the start of the health emergency in March 2020, but the floods made it impossible for them to return to class again. .

To tackle this educational crisis, Unicef established half a thousand virtual learning centers in the most affected districts and provided teachers and students with educational material, the note reported.

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And it is that the longer schools remain closed, the greater the risk that children will drop out of school and increase the probability that they will be forced into child labor or marriage, or other forms of exploitation and abuse, the organization warned.

The worst flooding in Pakistan in decades has killed 1,739 people, including 747 children, since mid-June, according to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

In addition, more than 33 million people were affected by the floodwaters, while 2.2 million homes were damaged, the NDMA reported.

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”Almost overnight, millions of children in Pakistan lost family, homes, safety and their education, in the most traumatic circumstances”Jenkins said.

Source: Elcomercio

Ronald Payne

I, Ronald Payne, am a journalist and author who dedicated his life to telling the stories that need to be said. I have over 7 years of experience as a reporter and editor, covering everything from politics to business to crime.