Sindh minister fears floods may result in over 2m school dropouts

Sindh Education and Culture Minister Syed Sardar Ali Shah has expressed fear that over 2 million children could drop out of schools due to floods in the affected areas.

Sardar Ali Shah, while holding a meeting in Umerkot with the deputy commissioner, SSP, and representatives of various welfare organisations and Unicef, said that an education emergency has been imposed in the province.

There had been a huge loss of education in the flood-hit areas, The News quoted the Sindh minister.

Along with relief activities, there was need for saving education and making sure that the expected dropouts did not happen, he said. He announced on the occasion that the Sindh school education department was planning to set up tent schools in the flood-affected areas. “If learning activities were not ensured, we would be facing huge destruction in the near future. This is why the education department is striving hard to keep children engaged in learning activities with all the distractions.”

The education minister said that if a learning environment was not provided to the homeless children in their temporary camps, massive dropouts could be observed and to overcome this challenge, the education department was to set up tent schools in relief camps.

“We need the assistance of the non-government organisations in relief operations and rehabilitation,” he said. Shah said teachers should teach children at camps to minimise the risk of learning losses. He added that the floods had caused a substantial economic loss in the long run and parents in the underprivileged and remote areas where people have lost agriculture and cattle would be unable to send their children to schools.