'95% schools along Sindh coastline do not have drinking water facility'

Civil society activists organise programmes for students to celebrate World Water Day

KARACHI: Around 95% public schools along Sindh coastline do not have the facility of drinking water and washrooms for students, said Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF) field coordinator Gulab Shah while revealing the findings of a survey.

He was sharing the details and data of a survey that was conducted by PFF, which is a non-governmental organisation working in Karachi. "We conducted the survey in Kharo Chan and Keti Bunder tehsil of Thatta district, where 95% schools lack drinking water facility," he said.



According to the data, there are around 3,217 schools in entire district, where 165,889 students are enrolled, Shah added. However, he said, hardly any school is equipped with basic facilities, including water, sanitation, hygiene, electricity and boundary walls.

World Water Day

Various programmes were organised by civil society activists in government schools across Karachi on the occasion of World Water Day, celebrated on March 22. 'One can live without love, but cannot live without water' was the slogan of the activists and the participants. The organisers taught the participants about the importance of water and sanitation and taught children how to wash hands.

Zain Rehman, a class two student of Government High School Morro Mir Bahar in Ibrahim Hyderi, said he doesn't have a water bottle and he always quenches his thirst after he returns home from school. Another student said that whenever they feel extremely thirsty, they go to a mosque located near their school to drink water. One of the students said he goes to the bushes if he ever has to use the washroom because they don't have toilets in their school.

There are around 200 students in these schools, many of whom claimed that they have never seen the facilities of washrooms or drinking water in their school premises. "I have been posted here for 12 years. We are told every year that we will be provided these facilities but all in vain," a teacher said.

CM unhappy with education dept

Chief Minister (CM) Murad Ali Shah presided over a meeting with the education department on Wednesday. The spokesperson for CM House told The Express Tribune that the CM has directed Education Minister Jam Mehtab Dahar to personally go to districts and start constructing toilets and water tanks in schools.

"The CM has asked him to take it as a challenge and provide missing facilities to the schools within three months," he said, adding that the finance department has been ordered to release the required funds.

"The CM was unhappy to learn that a large number of schools do not have toilets, drinking water facility and electricity," the spokesperson said. The CM said that how will it be possible for students to concentrate on their studies in such a suffocating atmosphere.

According to the government record, there are a total 10 government schools in Ibrahim Hyderi and four schools in Rehri. However, not a single school had the facility of drinking water for the students and teachers. There are 42,342 primary schools, 2,046 high and higher secondary and 2,336 middle and elementary schools in Sindh.