The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has warned Thursday that more than two million Pakistani children are still unable to return to school because of the devastating floods recorded in summer, which left more than 1,500 dead and caused the destruction or material damage to about 27,000 schools in the Central Asian country.
«Almost overnight, millions of Pakistan’s children have lost family members, homes, security and education in the most traumatic circumstances,» said UNICEF Education Director Robert Jenkins, following a visit to several of the flood-affected areas.
«Now, faced with the uncertainty of when they will be able to return to school and having endured some of the longest school closures in the world due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they are experiencing another threat to their future,» he added, amid international warnings about the impact of the catastrophe.
UNICEF stressed that it could take weeks or months for the waters to recede completely in some areas and recalled that, in addition to learning centers, schools are critical in providing children with access to medical care, psychosocial support and immunization.
He stressed that the longer they remain closed, the greater the risk that children will drop out of school altogether, increasing their likelihood of being forced into child labor and early marriage, as well as being exposed to other forms of exploitation and abuse.
The agency also explained that many of the worst-affected districts were already among the most vulnerable communities in Pakistan and noted that even before the current emergency, one-third of children in the affected areas were out of school and 50 percent were stunted.
In response, UNICEF has established more than 500 temporary schools in the worst-affected districts and has supported teachers and children with educational materials, while to support children’s physical and mental health, it is training teachers in psychosocial care and health screening.
«For some children, who have never been enrolled in school before, these centers are their first learning experience. We need to do everything we can to make sure they continue to learn when they return home,» Jenkins said.
UNICEF’s director for South Asia, George Laryea-Adjei, said in late October that 10 million children are already in need of «urgent life-saving assistance» because of the floods. «As this climate disaster continues to affect the lives of millions of children in Pakistan, in the end it is the most vulnerable children who pay the highest price,» he lamented.
