The education of nearly two million school-going children has been impacted by Pakistan’s devastating floods, with 46% of the affected being girls, said Sindh Education Minister Syed Sardar Ali Shah.
The minister revealed the unfortunate statistics on Tuesday during a meeting with the UNICEF Education Partner Group on climate-induced emergencies in Pakistan and the Horn of Africa.
The meeting was held to discuss and strategize the revival of education in the province, and to highlight the degree of educational losses incurred by children in Sindh.
“Around 20,602 schools have been damaged in the province and schoolchildren cannot be forced to sit in dilapidated buildings during the restoration phase,” the minister informed the participants, adding that many of the existing schools had suffered significant damage and were no longer fit for use.
Shah said that the biggest challenge right now was figuring out how to continue the process of learning for some 2 million children, as the government would need over 20,000 tents for the process. He recommended to the UNICEF group that they assist the country in building climate-resistant structures for schools in the future.
