Rehabilitation: Saving the future of flood affected children

Over 490 schools damaged by floods to be rebuilt.

ISLAMABAD: An international non-government organisation has launched a campaign to rebuild over 490 schools in the flood-affected districts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), Punjab and Sindh provinces. The initiative will benefit over 74,000 schoolchildren.

Under the campaign, schools destroyed by the floods in Swat, Lower Dir, Shangla, DI Khan, Muzaffargarh, Rajanpur, DG Khan, Shikarpur and Jacobabad will be repaired and renovated. Schools in these districts were also damaged when they were used as temporary relief camps. The rehabilitation work includes repairing doors, windows, furniture, bathrooms and boundary walls.

“We are improving children’s access to education by not only rehabilitating the school buildings but also by improving the educational environment by conducting teachers training and providing teaching tools and learning materials,” said Save the Children Country Director David Wright.

He said that after every crisis, there is always fear of children dropping out of schools due to damages to school buildings. “This is the case in flood affected areas of Pakistan and will result in a further deterioration of the school system,” he said.

In parts of southern Punjab and Sindh, where many schools are still inundated with flood water, 176 temporary schools are being established to provide education to 26,000 children, he added.

Fearing the spread of highly contagious diseases, Save the Children’s education program is working alongside health professionals to organise health and hygiene sessions in the schools for disease prevention and improvement in health and personal hygiene.

Teachers are also promoting the use of basic sanitary items such as disinfectants, soaps, nail cutters, tooth paste and brush and combing for lice.

Nearly 11,000 children and 2,000 adults in the worst flood affected districts of Punjab have benefitted from these teacher-led awareness sessions.

In order to encourage children to attend school, Save the Children has trained 2,800 teachers and parents on their roles and responsibilities in school management, which has increased school enrolment as well as attendance.

“The community plays an essential role in the sustainability of rural schools and without their active involvement, it is difficult to bring back and improve the education system in the flood affected areas,”’ said Wright.

Five months after the worst flooding in Pakistan’s history disrupted the lives of more than 20 million people, nearly half of which were children. Save the Children is working to mitigate a widening child survival crisis. The organisation is providing lifesaving relief and other programs to help families protect their children and recover from this disaster.

To date, Save the Children has reached more than 2.3 million flood-affected people through emergency health care, distribution of shelter materials, hygiene items, household kits, water purification sachets, food, child protection, education, livelihood support, nutrition, and water and sanitation activities.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 24^th, 2010.