Children snooze, cry, laugh on returning to school

Many schools stay shut due to urban-flooding

KARACHI:

All government schools and most of the private ones opened across Sindh, including Karachi. Today was the student's first school day after nearly two months of summer vacation. Children came to school with their parents, some snoozing, crying, laughing and playing.

After the summer vacation, the teaching process started in all public and private schools, but due to rain on the first day of school, the attendance in most schools remained low, and the children who came to school continued to enjoy the rain. The activities at the schools in public and private sectors have been reinstituted. The opening of educational institutions coincided with increased morning traffic on the highways.

As the children happily returned to school after two months of summer vacation, teachers encouraged them with various activities on their first day at school. However, most of the schools remained closed due to rain.

When asked by the Daily Express team, children said they enjoyed the two-month vacation, but missed their friends and teachers. Parents said they were facing problems due to rain, but it was a matter of children's education, so they came to drop them to school so that the teaching process could start on time.

Meanwhile, teachers said that the attendance remained less than usual due to rain, and the children who were absent on the first day would ensure their attendance the next day. The teachers said they sent messages about the new schedule to the students through WhatsApp and email.

Managements of many private schools which opened in Karachi, said they will close down from tomorrow and extended holidays due to dilapidated roads and rain.

Rain impacts school supplies

The new academic year starts on August 1, but students remain deprived of textbooks. Students say books are unavailable even after the start of the new academic year, whereas this work should have been completed in July. In this regard, Sindh Textbook Board chairman Pervez Baloch says that all the books have been sent to the province so that no one should face any difficulties. He further said that only the 9th and 10th-grade mathematics books did not come and would also arrive in two to three days. There has been a delay in the arrival of the books due to the rains, but we are trying to get the books to the children soon.

On the other hand, Aziz Khalid, chairman of Pakistan Publishers and Booksellers Association, said that biology, Urdu, mathematics, Islamiat and Pakistan studies in grades 9 and 10 are available, while chemistry and physics books have not come in the market, so far.

He further said that mud has accumulated at several markets due to the recent rains, the roads are dilapidated, the sewage system is disrupted, and the drains are overflowing, making it impossible for the vehicles carrying books to enter the market. He also feared that the books might be damaged. Niaz from Faridi Book Center, Urdu Bazaar, said that parents came to buy books many times, but they had to go back disappointed. The parents said that if the textbooks do not arrive on time, the children’s education will face problems.

Expressing their concern, the teachers questioned how they would teach the students without textbooks. They said that books should have arrived in educational institutions.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 2^nd, 2022.