Collateral damage: Teachers stop giving lectures, hand out ration bags instead

Ten temporary learning centres were set up by Unicef, but more needs to be done.

MITHI: The education of 80,000 children in Tharparkar district has been put on hold, at least for now, as nearly 500 primary schools have shut down because of flooding and subsequent relief work. According to a survey by the district government, 627 schools were completely damaged and around 1,124 were partially damaged after the heavy rains.

To add to the problem, people from three other districts, Mirpurkhas, Badin and Umarkot migrated here after those areas were submerged in flood water. They were moved to relief camps by the district administration. The teachers had to leave their classrooms to help with the relief work. According to one of them, Nawaz Ali, after this is over they will be enlisted to register voters. And then, they will volunteer for the next elections.

Tharparkar already has the lowest literacy rate in the country, 18.36%, with 1.5 million people, out of which 50% are children.

According to a civil society activist, Obhayo Junejo, no donor agency has so far expressed an interest in setting up temporary learning centres for children in relief camps. Ten temporary learning spaces were set up with the help of Unicef at the Naukot Fort camp, but they are not enough, he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 8^th, 2011.