KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah presiding over a review meeting on the ongoing repair and reconstruction of 4,162 out of 19,808 school buildings damaged by the 2022 floods, directed the School Education department to not only expedite the work but also to ensure that the schools are rebuilt to be flood resilient.
The meeting was held at the CM House and attended by Minister Education Sardar Shah, Chief Secretary Asif Hyder Shah, Secretary Education Zahid Abbasi, Secretary Finance Fayaz Jatoi, and Secretary to CM Raheem Shaikh.
The CM directed the school department to prioritise schools in the most affected areas and ensure that the quality of construction meets the required standards. “Education is our top priority, and we must rebuild these schools to provide a safe learning environment for our children,” he stated.
Murad Shah said that out of a total of 19,808 damaged schools work on 4162 has either been started or will be started shortly but even then, he has to arrange funds for repair/reconstruction of 15,646 remaining damaged schools.
Minister Education Syed Sardar Shah, briefing the CM, said that out of 40,978 school buildings, 19,808 were damaged, including 7503 fully and 12,305 partially by the floods of 2022. To a question, the CM was told that the total enrolment of 40,978 schools comes to 5.22 million, but the number of children affected by the damage caused to the schools is 2.33 million.
The CM directed the school education dept. to ensure the proper running of the classes so that the education of the students may not be affected. At this, the minister education told the CM that under stop-gap arrangement classes were functioning properly.
The school education dept. told the Chief Minister that out of 36,622 primary schools and 260 elementary schools, 17,255 primary and 1,192 elementary schools had sustained damage. Similarly, out of 1,654 secondary schools and 491 higher secondary schools, 928 secondary and 278 higher secondary schools were damaged.
When asked about the repair efforts, the CM was informed that 4,162 damaged schools had been taken up for repair and reconstruction with the support of various donor agencies and the federal government.
Asian Development Bank has funded the repair of 1026 schools, the Sindh government repairing 538 schools through its ADP, the World Bank (through the fed govt) four, European Union 112, and JICA nine, out of a Repair and Maintenance budget (of 2022-23 and 2024-25) 1,132, the federal; government through PSDP 833, World Bank through SELECT program 377 and Sindh Secondary Education Improvement Project (SSEIP) 31. The total cost for repair and reconstruction of 4,162 schools comes to Rs167,080.78 million. It was pointed out that out of the Repair and Maintenance budget of 2022-23, 744 schools were being repaired. They include 171 in the Hyderabad division, 132 Larkana, 137 Mirpurkhas, 102 Shaheed Benazirabad, 152 Sukkur, and 50 in Karachi were being repaired for Rs3075.858 million.
Shah discussing the funding allocations, timelines, and measures to prevent future infrastructure damage by the heavy rains/floods directed the School education dept. to ensure reconstruction/repair by 2025-26. “I want you [school education dept.] to accelerate the restoration process so that educational institutions can resume full operations as soon as possible because the stop-gap arrangements for long would affect educational activities.” the CM concluded.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024