Recently, UNICEF’s Global Director of Education revealed that the recent devastating floods had destroyed nearly 27,000 Schools and rendered them inaccessible for more than 2 million children in flood-hit regions in Pakistan. According to him, millions of children are facing uncertainty and fearing prolonged discontinuation of their studies like they already endured some of the world’s longest school closures due to the pandemic in recent years.
UNICEF has quickly raised the issue of flood-affected schools in flooded regions which needs special attention from the concerned authorities. Unfortunately, the education sector had never been a priority for the successive governments in Pakistan. Thousands of schools that were destroyed by the deadly earthquake in 2005 had not been completely reconstructed and operationalized by the relevant authorities over the past one and a half decades due to alleged corruption.
The government of Pakistan has the sovereign right to prioritize its needs and ongoing rehabilitation activities in the country. Hence, the bureaucrats must prefer the basic needs of the masses including health, education, and water so a normal life in flood-hit areas can be started at the earliest.
