It has been weeks since the pitter-patter of rain was last heard in Karachi, longer still since it wreaked havoc on the city. The Government Girls Secondary School in New Karachi's Sector 11-D is, however, still reeling from the destruction left in the monsoon's wake.
Sewage water flooded the school at the time. Several weeks past, the school premises and its surrounding area remain flooded with stagnant water.
Expected to ignore the filth that threatens to suffocate them, students make their way to school hopping on bricks and stones laid out by the school administration so as to avoid trudging through the stagnant water. The day is spent swatting flies and mosquitoes during lessons and between sanitising hands.
In the pandemic era, the education department has instructed teachers and staff to inculcate good hygiene habits more so than before. The current situation has only increased the emphasis on cleanliness, people are reminded daily to wash their hands, sanitise, get rid of germs. The standard operating procedures (SOPs), which Sindh Education Minister Saeed Ghani stresses daily, are designed to curb the spread of the virus through necessary precautions.
At the same time, other diseases lurk in the garbage and stagnant water that pollutes the school. The conditions raise questions about the functionality of the sewerage system and the performance of the provincial and local government authorities, but there are few answers to be found.
The school's in-charge, Zainab Ansari, told The Express Tribune that the school administration had informed the union council's office about these conditions. After the UCs closed, the administration approached the district commissioner's office.
According to Ansari, the latter assured a team would be sent and the school premises and its surrounding areas would be cleaned. But the assurances have yet to be backed by action.
The troubles don't end there. The school is without basic facilities like drinking water and uninterrupted power supply, says Ansari.
There are no washroom facilities either, add the teachers. Apart from the students, ranging from pre-primary to Grade 10 classes, mosquitoes and insects are frequent participants in the classrooms, they lamented, adding that on occasion, stray dogs wander in too. According to the teachers, the risk of dengue and malaria is ever present on the school premises.
The school faces the same situation every time it rains as the sewerage system breaks down and nearby gutters overflow, according to Ansari. She assigns the blame to negligent authorities, calling for the education department to review the school's conditions and provide better facilities.
As it stands, children are forced to study in an environment that reeks of filth and garbage, worsened only by the foul stench of negligence. Teachers are compelled to inculcate discipline and responsibility, along with teaching the course curriculum, in surroundings that exhibit neither discipline nor responsibility, let alone sanitation.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 5th, 2020.
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