Sindh seeks global help for education sector

A high-level Unicef delegation met Sindh Minister for Education and Culture, Syed Sardar Shah at a local hotel on Saturday. Robert Gordon Jenkins, Director Education, Unicef Headquarters, led the delegation. Peter de Vries Education Advisor, Unicef, Rosa and Ellen Van Kalmthout, Chief Education, Unicef Pakistan, were also included in the delegation.

Secretary School Education, Akbar Leghari, officers of education department and Reformed Support Unit (RSU) were also present.

The purpose of the meeting was to seek international community's support on the damages of recent natural calamity and rehabilitation of education infrastructure in the province.

The meeting discussed the preliminary details of the survey conducted by the Sindh education department regarding damages.

Unicef Pakistan provided the technical support to Sindh education department in survey for assessment of damages to education infrastructure.

The Unicef delegation was informed that for the first time children have faced such an environment, the flood victims are suffering from many social and psychological problems.

Sindh education minister said that the school infrastructure has been severely affected due to recent rains and floods, the damages are so huge that the government alone cannot do anything at this time.

Help of the international community and organisations are sought in restoring the education process in flood affected areas.

The education minister said that Unicef helped to establish more than 2,000 temporary learning centres in Sindh and at this time we need to start 20,000 tent classrooms to resume the teaching.

Shah said that in view of the safety of children, we cannot allow children to sit in dilapidated school buildings. Moreover, we have to think about children's nutrition, protection and their psychological problems.

Robert Gordon Jenkins praised the initiative of education department and said that the teaching process has already suffered a lot due to Covid-19.

There are other such methods that can be used to educate children, such as the digital learning opportunities that have emerged during the Covid-19 pandemic.

RSU briefing the details of initial fundings of survey, told the meeting that 47 per cent of schools out of total 44,219, have been completely or partially damaged by the floods.

According to the preliminary survey, 12,664 schools have been partially affected and 7,938 schools have been destroyed completely. The delegation assured the education department of its full support and pledged to present the revival education case with global partners and international community