News
Monday, August 01, 2011
Implications of devastating floods of 2010
Thousands of children still out of school
KARACHI: Since the 2010 floods in Sindh, thousands of children are still out from their schooling and social activities as they are confined to the camp life at the tent villages in Karachi, says a field survey conducted by Roshni Helpline.
The assessment carried out at tent villages in Gulshan-e-Benazir, Kemari Town; Razzakabad, Bin Qasim Town and Super Highway area, Gaddap Town has reflected the hopelessness and a sense of anxiety among the children about the future of their education.
Moreover the families who had voluntarily opted to return to their broken homes in different parts of the province were too yet to rehabilitate. Their children are still out of schools while their socioeconomic conditions are same as were at the time of flooding.
“It is too difficult for us to come to terms while seeing the gravity of destruction of our properties and belongings. It is even difficult for us to survive without any help from any quarter,” Sakina Samejo told Roshni Helpline surveyors.
Samejo told that she along with her family members had returned to their broken home in Jacobabad on the government assurance that they would get help in rehabilitation of their lives. “There is no help. There is no life for us. There is no life for our children. All houses, schools and everything else are completely destroyed. Hardly anyone lives there. There is hardly any activity for our children,” she said.
“Here at least we get cooked food or ration and our children can play or at least wander around for a while. Although only thing they miss the most is their schooling and education,” she added.
The affected families are settled at all three camps from Jacobabad, Shahdadkot, Naushero Feroz and other areas of Sindh. A few of them have even come from Rahimyar Khan, Muzzaffar Garh and other southern parts of Punjab.
In the beginning, some of the non-governmental organisations, including Roshni Helpline, Potohar Organisation for Development Advocacy (PODA) from Islamabad and others provided non-formal education at the makeshift tents at the tent villages. But since closure of their projects, there is no continuity of educational or recreational activity for the flood-affected children at all these camps.
“The flood-affected children have gone through a phase of trauma and grief owing to the loss and destruction they witnessed during the flooding, and keeping them engaged in educational and recreational activities was must to help them rehabilitate mentally,” Muhammad Ali President Roshni Helpline said.
“We managed to run a project for about a year but since NGOs run the funded-projects, they can sustain to their stipulated time limits. It is government’s responsibility to ensure continuation of educational and social activities for the flood-affected children in the longer run,” he added.
Ali said Roshni Helpline had written to Sindh Education Department, Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) and other authorities, warning them about the gravity of the situation about future of the children education.
He said: “We further informed them about the issues pertaining to safety and security of children and their vulnerability for exploitation. Apparently nothing much has been done neither about continuity of children education nor about their protection, and now they are again vulnerable to psychosocial impact.”
Ali said, “We again request the provincial education department and PDMA to make arrangements for formal or non-formal education of the flood-affected children at tent villages so that their sense of education loss is compensated and they could mentally be integrated into social life. It is essential to compensate their sense of grief and loss they had already suffered during and after the 2010 floods.” pr
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk