ISLAMABAD: Education is often among the first causalities in a post-disaster situation. Education for girls and the most underserved learners are among the most impacted and least spoken about areas.

These views were expressed by Zehra Arshad at the 13th Annual Convention organised by Pakistan Coalition for Education (PCE), here.

The theme for this year’s convention was, “Build Back Better: Education Equity during Emergencies and Beyond.” The Coalition’s partner organisations from all across Pakistan participated in the three-day moot.

During the first two days of the Convention, representatives of the grassroots civil society organisations from 15+ districts were capacitated on ways to support a resilient education system during times of disaster.

The third day of the event was dedicated to policy discussions. The first policy discussion entailed a conversation on “Towards a Climate Resilient Education System in Pakistan.” Khalid Naeem, Director General (retired) of Directorate General of Special Education, Areebah Shahid, Executive Director, Pakistan Youth Change Advocates (PYCA), Ronilda Co, Director at Dep Ed Philippines and Muhammad Ali Kemal, Chief SDG Unit participated as panelists. The panel specifically highlighted the issues that make girls, women, and children with disabilities particularly vulnerable during calamities.

“Following the intermittent school closures during the pandemic, it is believed that the most affected students experienced a gap of more than 2 full years of learning losses. The floods – after which more than 22,000 schools have been left damaged or destroyed – have now further aggravated the woes of the most marginalized learners including girls and learners with disabilities,” said, Zehra Arshad, setting the context for the discussion.

“The first response towards education recovery must always begin with providing children with psycho-social support. Unless children are once again made to feel safe, provided with opportunities to create new bonds, they will never be able to move past the post-trauma stress,” shared Areebah Shahid.

“Of the over two million children with disabilities in Pakistan, a mere 100,000 are in schools. This means that over 96 per cent of such children have no access to learning opportunities,” said Khalid Naeem while shedding light on the plight of children living with disabilities. “The only way to change this situation for the better is to ensure that only children with profound disabilities are catered to by special education institutes while the remaining learners are integrated into the general education system.”

Ali Kemal spoke about the importance of building resilient education structures to minimize disruption in education during disasters. “If we are finally talking about resilient education structures, it is important to understand whether or not we receive donor support for them, they have to be made. There is no other way forward.”

Sharing Philippines’ example, Ronilda emphasized the need for a multi-pronged response involving all relevant groups of stakeholders.

“We were able to protect our education system from major disruption during calamities by forging partnerships with civil society partners in child protection, education, and climate change. Simultaneously, we brought onboard youth collectives and media. Together these stakeholders formed a rapid response mechanism that comes into action immediately to ensure that children have access to education during emergencies.”

The second policy dialogue focused on, “Education, Emergencies and Uncertainty: Pathways to Youth Participation in Decision-making.” The panel included Ayman Babar, Program Coordinator at PCE, Arooj Khalid, Senior Associate Program and Process Design at The Citizens Foundation, Priyanka Pal, Youth Coordinator at Asia South Pacific Association for Basic And Education (ASPBAE), Kinza Jamal from the YP Foundation and Hassan Dajana, co-founder of an urban sustainability start-up and Program Manager at Amal Academy.

The youth representatives focused on intersectional youth collaboration and inclusion of young voices in the decision-making process irrespective of their gender, race, ethnicity, religion, or colour of skin. The panelists also spoke about including more young female voices in policy debates to ensure girls were not left unheard.

Speaking about youth’s struggle in India, Jamal shared, “As a religious minority in India it has not always been an easy path for young women like me. But this should not deter us from treading our way forward. That’s the only way in which change can ever truly happen.”

Adding to Kinza’s point, Ayman Babar urged to start and push difficult conversations. “Unless we break societal barriers and talk about difficult topics, no real change can be inspired.”

At the end of the Convention, the civil society participants signed off a series of recommendations. These asked the political parties to prioritize education in their election manifestoes. The recommendations also demanded the political parties to provide target-based plans that included women and people with disabilities concerning the recovery of education from the havoc caused by the floods.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022