Rain wrecks hundreds of schools

Most of the old school buildings are located in South Punjab

LAHORE:

Heavy monsoon rains have damaged hundreds of old school buildings across Punjab.

The damage caused to the buildings, especially roofs, and boundary walls may pose a risk to the students and teachers when the schools reopen after summer holidays without completion of repair work.

An official of the school education department told The Express Tribune that a previous survey had pointed out around 800 government schools having dilapidated buildings in the province.

The condition of the buildings identified as at risk is likely to have worsened during the ongoing rains.

In addition, rainwater has accumulated in thousands of schools, increasing the risk to children during the ongoing dengue season.

All schools in the province are closed due to summer vacations and are scheduled to reopen a fortnight later after the end of the two months long vacations.

Heavy rains in the past few weeks have damaged the old and dilapidated buildings. Many of the affected schools were built several decades ago.

Sources in the Punjab School Education Department said steps were not taken before the vacations began to protect the buildings that were in a bad condition.

"Heavy rains have damaged hundreds of the old schools buildings and after the end of summer vacations we may put thousands of students at risk as the dilapidated buildings pose a threat to their lives," a senior official of the department said.

He added that the rains were continuing and the condition of the affected buildings might deteriorate.

The official said the provincial government should take notice of the situation.

The official said a survey carried out in the past to gauge the need for school buildings' repair had revealed that more than 800 of them were in a precarious condition.

However, no step was taken to repair the buildings and classes continued in dilapidated buildings.

Most of the old school buildings in the province are located in South Punjab but Lahore and other big cities also have several dilapidated structures.

"The biggest issue is that the school education department needs huge funds for the repair of old buildings. It is tragic that in the past many years no funds were released for reconstructing such hazardous school buildings," the official added.

A teacher from the provincial capital, Amanat Ali, said, "Besides the government schools there are also thousands of private schools whose old buildings were damaged due to the recent rains."

He said several incidents of death of children due to the collapse of such buildings had taken place in the past.

He said the teachers also risked their lives while performing their duty in such schools.

A leader of a teachers' union termed old risky buildings the most serious of related to schools in the whole Punjab.

The problem had persisted for many years, said Punjab Teachers Union secretary general Rana Liaqat Ali.

"After today's rain, water has pooled even in some of Lahore's new schools. The situation is likely to worsen in the coming weeks," he said.

He said the school administrations were unable to solve the problem as only the government could provide the billions of rupees required to repair the dilapidated school buildings of the province.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 16^th, 2022.