© UNICEF/Pakistan/2011/Gulnaz Jabeen Khan
MehreenYaqoob, ParveenMajeed and friends –Learning with joy at ECE Class in Government Girls Primary School Qadirabad, Tehsil Jampur, District Rajanpur

News note

ISLAMABAD, 4 January 2012 – UNICEF and partners today welcomed the opening of 35 new schools in Muzaffargah, Rajanpur and Rahimyar Khan in Southern Punjab, three districts hit by the 2010 monsoon floods. These schools have been constructed by the children’s agency at locations where schools were damaged or completely destroyed by the floods that devastated Pakistan from July to September 2010.

More than 4,500 children are now attending these schools which have been handed over to the Punjab Education Department.

The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands has contributed US$1.2 million for the construction of 24 schools and the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has contributed an additional US$250,000 for the construction of seven schools. Funds for four schools have been provided by the governments of Italy, Hungary and Sweden.

The Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, H.E. Hugo G. Scheltema, inaugurated 24 schools constructed with Dutch funding at a ceremony held recently, in the Peer Dargai Shah Government Primary School in Muzaffargarh district.

Speaking on the occasion, the Mr. Scheltema said, “There is no doubt that education is the key to progress for any nation. I feel delighted to see these beautiful schools that UNICEF has built to help the children in the flood-affected districts of Punjab. Increased enrollment after floods and the keenness of parents to send their children to school makes is very clear that there is need for more schools and more teachers. I am sure that UNICEF will manage to build more schools and the Punjab Education department will provide more teachers to ensure that every child is educated.”

After the devastating floods of 2010, UNICEF initiated a schools reconstruction proragmme in the worst affected districts of southern Punjab – as well as other parts of the country – since most of the government school buildings were either damaged or completely destroyed. In order to bring children back to school and to prevent the loss of a full academic year, Temporary Learning Centres were established by UNICEF in camps and communities. With time, prefabricated school structures with all amenities have replaced these temporary learning centres. These new schools signify a new method of teaching and learning – the Child Friendly Schooling approach.

“The Child Friendly Schooling approach is interactive and makes learning fun for children. It has elements of health and hygiene through provision of safe drinking water and improved sanitation, Early Childhood and Development for preparing young children for school, playground and equipment for healthy physical activities, psychosocial support for rehabilitation of trauma-affected children, involvement of parents and community, and many other unique features that makes education attractive,” said Karen Allen, UNICEF Deputy Representative.

“Dutch funding has helped us achieve the objective of providing quality education to children who had suffered due to floods. This is an investment that not only fulfills their basic rights, but also contributes to the future of Pakistan. I urge all parents, teachers and community members to take ownership of these schools and ensure that every child of school going age is in school, especially girls”, she added.

Pakistan flood crisis, one year on

Children and families continue to cope – and rebuild their lives – a year after devastating monsoon floods struck Pakistan. This is one in a series of stories on their situation, one year on.

By A. Sami Malik

PUNJAB, Pakistan, 3 August 2011 – “Before the floods, this village had a one-room Masjid [mosque] school. Most of the children sat under a tree. We now have this beautiful school, and the children love it,” says Mukhtar Ahmad, Headmaster of the Government Primary School in Mullanwala village, located in the Muzaffargarh District of Pakistan’s Punjab Province.

“The floodwater took everything away from us, but gave our children the opportunity for better education,” he adds.

Last year’s unprecedented floods in Pakistan forced the bulk of the population in Mullanwala to relocate to safer areas. When the floodwaters receded and people returned, they discovered that not a single structure in the village was standing – not even the one-room Masjid school.

As Mullanwala’s residents started to rebuild, UNICEF and its implementing partner, the Jahandad Society for Community Development (JSCD), established a temporary learning centre, or TLC, in a tent in the village. The Punjab Education Department granted the TLC status as a Government Primary School, and enrolment soon exceeded 200.

‘Child-friendly’ approach

© UNICEF Video
Third-grade student Shahbaz reads a textbook at the UNICEF-supported Mullanwala Government Primary School in Punjab Province, Pakistan.

Now, a year after the floods, the TLC has turned into a transitional school housed in semi-permanent buildings. As part of its initiative to quickly improve education facilities for flood-affected children in Pakistan, UNICEF plans the construction of 500 such transitional schools by December 2011. Indeed, the process is already under way.

The transitional school in Mullanwala has all the essentials, including safe drinking water and sanitation, school supplies and learning materials. Its teachers use a ‘child-friendly’ approach to schooling that takes the needs of the whole child into account – including needs for protection, recreation, safe water and sanitation, and more.

Promoted by UNICEF and the Government of Punjab, this approach has resulted in a substantial increase in enrolment. The Mullanwala Government Primary School now has more than 360 students, many of whom had never been to a proper school before the floods.

‘We thank UNICEF’

Shahbaz, 11, a third-grade student, is one of them. Having received his early informal education in the Masjid school, he was first exposed to formal education in the UNICEF-supported Mullanwala TLC.

“Before the floods, I used to go to a one-room school,” recalls Shahbaz.

“When the floods came, we moved to high ground in Muzaffargarh. When we returned after the floods, our school had been destroyed. Then we got a tent school, books, bags and everything else. Later, they made us this school building.”

Shahbaz adds: “We are getting a good education and we are very happy. We thank UNICEF for this.”

‘The hub of learning’

JSCD Project Coordinator Hina Farooq has been involved with the transitional schools project since September 2010. She’s proud of what has been achieved.

“Mullanwala Government Primary School is more than just a primary school. It is the hub of learning. With UNICEF’s support, we have introduced the concept of ‘child-friendly schooling’ to students, teachers and community members,” says Ms. Farooq.

“Teaching without corporal punishment is something new in this environment,” she notes. “Since children don’t get beaten up in school, parents are also learning that physical punishment is detrimental to a child’s upbringing.”

© UNICEF video
Shahbaz drinks water from a UNICEF-installed hand pump at his school in a flood-affected district of Punjab Province, Pakistan. Provision of safe drinking water and adequate sanitation are part of the school's 'child-friendly' approach.

Prototype of success

Ms. Farooq explains that early childhood education at the Mullanwala transitional school prepares children from three to five years of age for formal education. Youth groups composed of adolescent boys and girls help out with school management and encourage parents in Mullanwala and surrounding villages to send their primary school-age children to school, she says.

UNICEF Education Officer Yasir Arafat considers the Mullanwala school a true prototype.

“This school is a great example to be replicated in other flood-affected areas,” he says. “It has motivated the entire community towards education. The increase in enrolment has convinced us to build two more rooms here. Work on these will be starting shortly.”

Mr. Arafat says the provincial Education Department has also appointed another teacher to work at the transitional school in Mullanwala.

Pakistan flood crisis, one year on

Children and families continue to cope – and rebuild their lives – a year after devastating monsoon floods struck Pakistan. This is one in a series of stories on their situation, one year on.

By Adnan Raja

SINDH PROVINCE, Pakistan, 28 July 2011 – Ejaz Najum, 12, was living in Karampur, in the northern part of Sindh Province, when floods ravaged his entire village and surrounding communities in late July 2010. Across Pakistan, the massive floods inundated farms, schools and health facilities, and disrupted basic social services, from the Himalayas to the Arabian Sea.

Having lost their home and all their belongings, Ejaz and his family were left with no choice but to move to the Selani relief camp, run by a non-governmental organization in Sukkur City. Life at the camp was extremely difficult, but at least they had access to shelter, basic health care and nutrition, safe drinking water and sanitation.

© UNICEF video
Ejaz Najum, 12, was displaced from his home in Pakistan's Sindh Province, when floods ravaged the region in late July 2010.

Ejaz continued his education at a UNICEF-supported temporary learning centre at Selani. And while living at the camp, he was also blessed with a new sister, a singular source of joy for the boy and his family during a difficult period.

Daunting challenges

Documentary filmmaker James Longley, who has been nominated twice for an Academy Award, first visited and filmed Ejaz and his family last year, in the immediate aftermath of their displacement. He returned to Karampur earlier this month to see them again.

Mr. Longley found that the family’s situation remained bleak, and he has documented their poignant story in a short film (see above).

© UNICEF video
Villagers evacuate through floodwaters on a small boat in Sindh Province, Pakistan, during monsoon floods floods in 2010.

Despite the daunting challenges he faces, Ejaz maintains hope for the future. Today, he and his two brothers – Israar, 14, and Insaaf, 9 – are back attending school. “I will study and then I will build schools,” says Ejaz. “Education changes everything. I want Pakistan to be the best country.”

Journey of recovery

While his family is among the poorest of the poor, Ejaz’s story is similar to the experiences of more than 3.9 million children who were severely affected by the floods that struck Pakistan from July through September 2010.

The total number of people directly affected by the floods was estimated at over 18 million.

One year later, the situation remains critical for millions who are still struggling to rebuild their livelihoods and communities. UNICEF is committed to improving the lives of all flood-affected children and families in Pakistan, especially the most vulnerable, on their long journey of recovery and hope.

Related story/video and podcast:
UNICEF helps to rebuild a school in a flood-ravaged village in north-west Pakistan
Education in Pakistan – one year after the monsoon floods

Pakistan flood crisis, one year on

Children and families continue to cope – and rebuild their lives – a year after devastating monsoon floods struck Pakistan. This is one in a series of stories on their situation, one year on.

By David Youngmeyer

NOWSHERA, Pakistan, 1 August 2011 – In July 2010, when floods reached the village of Kheshgi Bala, Maryam’s school – located right next door to the Kabul River – sat directly on the front line. Normally a sleeping giant, the river swelled with the intense monsoon rains and surged onto the land, filling the school with up to three metres of water and half a metre of mud.

“I got scared and ran away when the floodwater came into my house,” recalls Maryam, 11. “My family went to stay with friends on higher ground so that we would be safe.”

When Maryam returned to her village after the waters had receded, she was saddened by the devastation the flood had left in its wake. “I just cried,” she says, “because I thought my family and I wouldn’t be able to return to the village or see all my friends again.”

Hard-hit school

During the time when her family was displaced – including Maryam and her four younger siblings – she used to climb a hill near their temporary home. From there, she could see her school. She kept wondering whether she would ever be able to go back.

© UNICEF video/2011
Maryam, 11, responds to a teacher’s question at Kheshgi Bala Government Girls Primary School in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan. The school was severely damaged by monsoon floods in 2010.

The object of Maryam’s longing, Kheshgi Bala Government Girls Primary School, was one of the hardest-hit schools in Nowshera District, located in north-west Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province. The mud clogged the school’s well, water tank and toilets. Classroom furniture, student records, a boundary wall and water pipes were either destroyed or left unusable.

Fortunately, unlike the neighbouring mud houses that were washed away entirely, the school’s concrete structure remained intact.

After about a month, Maryam’s home was rebuilt and she was able to return to the village with her family. When the 2010 summer vacation was over, she and her classmates continued classes in a temporary open-air space, as their school was still out of action.

Support from UNICEF

After the floods, UNICEF worked closely with the government and non-governmental organizations to assess humanitarian needs and provide emergency assistance in districts throughout Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and other affected areas.

Along with one implementing partner, the Society for Sustainable Development (SSD), for example, UNICEF quickly assessed damaged schools in eight union councils in Nowshera District. (Nowshera was one of the worst-affected parts of the province, with more than 71,000 households disrupted.) At the same time, UNICEF worked with more than 100 partners to address water, sanitation and hygiene issues in flooded communities across Pakistan.

To date, UNICEF’s integrated package of water, sanitation and hygiene interventions has reached 140,000 children in 1,530 permanent schools and temporary learning centres in these communities – including the Kheshgi Bala Government Girls Primary School.

Happy to be back

It took about a month to clear away the sludge from Maryam’s school, rehabilitate and upgrade the school’s water and sanitation facilities, and repaint its walls. A new tank and pump for drinking water, and taps for students to wash their hands, were installed.

“We are very grateful to UNICEF for their help,” says teacher Gul Seyab. “The old facilities have been improved and the school is in a much better condition now.”

© UNICEF Video/2011
Girls play in the schoolyard of Kheshgi Bala Government Girls Primary School in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan. Floods in 2010 left thick layers of mud in the school, which was rehabilitated with support from UNICEF.

Maryam and other student volunteer helped the teachers put the finishing touches on the school, carrying water for washing, cleaning cupboards and moving in replacement furniture.

To help prevent the spread of waterborne diseases, UNICEF provided hygiene kits, soap, jerry cans and buckets for children and their families, while SSD ran classes teaching students good hygiene. Maryam is one of the students in the school hygiene club, made up of students and teachers, which continues to emphasize the importance of handwashing with soap and other necessary practices.

Maryam says she is very happy to be back at her old school again with her two sisters. She adds that she hopes to become a doctor on day, so that she can help the sick and build a better future.

Related links:

Education in Pakistan – one year after the monsoon floods

Ejaz’s story: A young boy remains hopeful in the aftermath of Pakistan floods
]]> http://www.educationandtransition.org/resources/unicef-helps-to-rebuild-a-school-in-a-flood-ravaged-village-in-north-west-pakistan/feed/ 0 http://www.educationandtransition.org/resources/in-pakistan-unicef-supported-temporary-learning-centres-create-opportunities-for-girls/ http://www.educationandtransition.org/resources/in-pakistan-unicef-supported-temporary-learning-centres-create-opportunities-for-girls/#comments Thu, 07 Apr 2011 14:18:57 +0000 mkamimura@unicef.org http://www.educationandtransition.org/?p=5194 By Malcolm Brabant

LAYYAH DISTRICT, Pakistan, 7 April 2011 – Pakistan’s catastrophic flooding last summer is leading to a change in attitudes towards sending girls to school.

VIDEO: UNICEF’s Malcolm Brabant reports on changing attitudes towards education for girls in rural Pakistan.

The floods, which affected the Indus River basin from the Himalayan foothills to the Arabian Sea, damaged approximately 10,000 schools, of which more than a third was completely destroyed.

Thousands of parents in rural areas have traditionally declined to send their daughters to school. But the flood waters forced them out of their villages into areas where UNICEF has set up temporary learning centres (TLCs) to try to minimise the impact of the disaster on children’s education.

© UNICEF video
Children attend classes at a temporary learning centre set up by UNICEF in the village of Mulla Wala in Southern Punjab, Pakistan.

Their coming into contact with education for the first time has been extremely encouraging, explained UNICEF Deputy Representative in Pakistan Karen Allen.

“We saw a real birth of motivation in the little girls but also in the parents, who said, ‘Maybe we should consider sending our girls to school because, well, look how happy it made them and they were really learning useful things,’” said Ms. Allen.

She added that such a mind shift is now more likely to continue when the children return home.

Child-centred learning

Noor Khatoon, 11, from Dadu District in Sindh province, showed me her school which has been declared unsafe due to waterlogging. In her classroom, there is a pile of books in a cupboard that have turned black and mouldy.

There is a tented TLC in the playground, which holds classes for younger pupils.

“I want my school to be rebuilt so I can start going to school again,” said Noor.

© UNICEF video
Many girls are being offered the opportunity of an education for the first time through UNICEF-supported temporary learning centres, such as here in Dadu District, Sindh province, Pakistan.

UNICEF is targeting 1.3 million children aged between four and 12 with education response activities, and is aiming to strengthen education institutions by training over 12,000 teachers. To date, UNICEF-supported TLCs have reached about 240,000 children and more than 4,000 teachers have been trained in child-centred teaching methods.

Further north, in Mulla Wala village in Southern Punjab, Aqsa Rehman, 9, happily rocks backwards and forwards in an open-air TLC while reading aloud, her fingers tracing words in a paperback book.

Aqsa’s education was greatly disrupted by the floods when her school was destroyed. She has since begun classes at a TLC and is now reading with the full confidence of a fourth grader.

“We will come to school, even if we have to struggle for it,” said Aqsa. “We will help our people by replacing everything they have lost in the floods.”

Investing in the future

Aqsa’s father, Haji Abdur Reahman, works in a vegetable market in Karachi, hundreds of miles from his family. Nine out of his ten children attend school.

“I am educating them so that they have a bright future and a comfortable life,” he said. “When the girls get married, their in-laws will treat them with respect.”

© UNICEF video
Mohammad Haseeb, 5, a first grader, recites the alphabet at a UNICEF-supported temporary learning centre in Southern Punjab, Pakistan.

Hanging out the washing, Aqsa’s aunt, Iqbal Bibi, had a wistful but determined look as she explained that educating their children was a means to a better life.

“We hardly have enough to eat or to feed the children, but are still educating them so that they can become better people and get rid of poverty,” she said.

The biggest challenge facing UNICEF and the Pakistani authorities is in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, where the Taliban is engaged in a violent campaign against the education of girls and boys.

A total of 710 schools have been bombed in KP alone in the last two years and more than 640 schools have been destroyed or damaged in Malakand, the worst-hit region in the province.

© UNICEF/NYHQ2011-0223/LeMoyne
On 1 February 2011 in Egypt, adolescent girls and young women demande political change, taking part in a mass public demonstration in Tahrir Square in Cairo.

By Anna Azaryeva

NEW YORK, USA, 25 February 2011 – This week UNICEF launches the State of the World’s Children Report. This year’s report entitled Adolescence. An Age of Opportunity focuses on the 1.2 billion young people around the world aged ten to nineteen. The vast majority of them live in developing countries and face a unique set of challenges and opportunities.

Podcast moderator Amy Costello discussed with two adolescents who have contributed essays to this year’s State of the World’s Children Report how education can empower young people to realize their full potential and contribute to development of their societies.

Listen to the Podcast in Streaming MP3 format

Young people face a unique set of challenges

Syed Aown Shahzad, 17 year old youth activist from Lahore, Pakistan, has been a vocal advocate for the need for young people to protect the environment. He contributed an essay to the State of the World’s Children report, about the impact of climate change on children living in developing nations. Aown said that in Pakistan, many young people still lack access to the basic education facilities and are largely unaware of causes and effects of climate change and yet are experiencing its consequences. “The floods have impacted the whole country,” said Aown. “Hundreds of schools in Pakistan have been completely wiped out”. The remaining schools are now used as shelters and warehouses to store supplies, which drastically impacts the children of Pakistan, explained Aown.

Saeda Almatari, a 17 year old high school student from Jordan, has been living in the United States for the past five years. Saeda’s contribution to this year’s State of the World’s Children report focused on images of women in the media. “Girls need someone to listen to them, and to teach them about the importance of getting a diploma and a career”, said Saeda.

Education helps young people become agents of change

Over the last weeks, young people have played an important role in protests that have been sweeping through the Middle East and other parts of the world. “Young people are working for their future,” said Saeda. “They are changing their own lives and everyone else’s lives.”

Aown said that that his own education, in particular his study abroad in the United States, has been an extraordinary experience that has broadened his horizons. ‘It has definitely accentuated my potential as a change maker’, stressed Aown. “I want to bring more awareness not only in terms of educating the youth but also empowering the youth and getting proper representation in the government of Pakistan.”

Young people need to play a key role in shaping the future of their nations and communities and yet they are often excluded from the decision making processes. “In Pakistan, 62 per cent of population is under the age of 30, but they are immensely underrepresented,” said Aown. “We need to work with our government and our current leaders to facilitate our cause.”

“Education has definitely impacted my life greatly. Growing up in Jordan, I was privileged to get to go to school”, said Saeda. “I think education definitely prepares everyone for the future.”

© UNICEF/NYHQ2009-0508/ParadelaChildren wait with their families to register at the Jalala camp in Mardan district, in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province.

Last year in Afghanistan there were nearly 300 documented attacks on schools, killing 92 people and injuring 169. In Pakistan, 172 government and private schools, particularly girls’ schools, have been destroyed in the Swat Valley district since 2007.

More schools have also closed due to security concerns following threats or attacks against teachers and students in both countries.

Against the backdrop of the intensifying conflict in Pakistan, the protection of children and their right to education must be kept at the forefront of dialogues about resolving the crisis – this according to a panel of experts speaking out in a podcast discussion moderated by Amy Costello at UN Radio.

‘Ruining’ a generation

“Going to school, if you’re a girl or if you’re a teacher at a school that serves girls, is a great risk,” says United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) Afghanistan Country Programme Director Wenny Kusuma.

Human rights lawyer and Equality Now Deputy Director of Programmes Yasmeen Hassan describes the pervading fear of long-term consequences for Pakistan after the Taliban banned girls education in the Swat region and broadcast radio messages threatening girls with acid attacks and death if they went to school.

“In the words of one person from Swat, ‘Our future generations are getting ruined,’” notes Ms. Hassan.

Reasons for the conflict

Journalist and award-winning documentary filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy – who recently travelled through Pakistan for her latest film, ‘Pakistan’s Taliban Generation’ – argues that the failure of the government to provide its people with a legitimate education system is behind the escalating conflict, to the detriment of both girls and boys.

“There are over 15,000 schools in Pakistan which are known as ghost schools. The buildings exist just on paper. There are teachers who draw salaries, but nobody goes to school. There is no school. So the Government of Pakistan has failed its citizens,” says Ms. Obaid-Chinoy.

“This lack of access to education is something that the militants and Islamic fundamentalists thrive on,” she adds, “because then they set up centres where they provide food, clothing, lodging … under the guise of teaching children the Koran. Right now, the biggest problem in Pakistan is that the war is not going to end tomorrow because no one is addressing the reasons for this war.”

And the primary reason for the war, asserts Ms. Obaid-Chinoy, “in my view and in the work that I’ve seen in Pakistan, is education.”

Rights disintegrating

Ms. Kusuma warns that if Pakistan continues down its current path, the erosion of human rights will only worsen.

“Afghanistan is fast-forward what will happen in Pakistan, where we have the absence and isolation of women from both the public and private spheres,” she says. “There is no sense of women being collateral damage here. There is a conflict being waged… on a terrain that is the minds and bodies of women and girls.”

Ms. Obaid-Chinoy similarly paints a worrying picture for Pakistan: “Women in Pakistan are really afraid. They’re afraid for their future. Who knows if my daughter or the next generation will be able to get an education in this country, the way my generation did? Who knows if they’ll be able to work the way I was able to work?

“Everything is changing in Pakistan, and it’s changing very rapidly.”

This podcast features:

Wenny Kusuma, Country Programme Director, UNIFEM Afghanistan; Yasmeen Hassan, human rights lawyer and Deputy Director of Programmes, Equality Now; and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, journalist and award-wining documentary filmmaker.

Listen to the podcast in Streaming MP3 Format

Listen to the podcast in RealMedia

Podcast 14

Click here to listen to other podcast in the “BEYOND SCHOOL BOOKS” series.