I am writing with a deepening education crisis trailing at our heels. During every emergency, it’s our children’s education that always ends up getting compromised. Last year’s floods revealed just how underprepared and ill-equipped the state was in dealing with the educational crisis. The schooling of over two million children was disrupted and 27,000 schools were damaged or destroyed. However, the picture was grim even before the floods. Studies show that the learning levels and enrolment rates were deplorable in the affected areas even prior to the floods.
It is imperative that our education system is rebuilt on resilient and sustainable grounds. Immediate plans need to be drawn that focus on remedial learning, training teachers and data collection regarding the learning losses endured. Medium-term and long-term plans also need to be drawn up that ensure quality education. The floods showed clearly that governments are not able to create an efficient and holistic education disaster response. It is imperative that the concerned parties learn from these experiences and devise ways to make our education system more resilient.
Rabia Tufail
Islamabad