By: Qurban Ali Khushik
DADU: Around 5,000 children of 26 rain-hit villages in six union councils of Dadu district have not gone to school for the past three months. Their schools shut down in August stayed closed during monsoon.
Teachers don’t come to those schools which were still open causing loss of their student’s time. Situation is even more critical in the Faridabad, Mado, Sawro, Drigh Bala, Chhinni and Pat Gul Mohammad union councils.
According to Abdul Rasheed, a resident of Wali Mohammad Rind village within the Fareedabad union council, about 450 houses in his village are submerged because of overflowing water from Hamal Lake and flash floods arriving from Balochistan. He said that all the link roads were still submerged in standing rainwater and the villagers used boats to get to Fareedabad town.
“There is just one primary school in the area but since the roads are flooded the teachers stay away from their workplaces,” he said. “Around 200 boys and 100 girls study in the school.” Nine-year-old Kaloo Rind studies in class-III but since the end of monsoon he has been grazing his family’s goats. “Our teachers don’t come to school,” he said. “I have five goats. Every morning I bring them on a boat to the flood protective embankment and then take them home the same way every evening.”
Abdul Rasool Deero, a resident of Bhambha Deera village, also in Fareedabad union council, said that around 25 students now had no place to study. “I have complained to the education officials but they don’t pay any heed,” he said. “My house collapsed in 2010. I rebuilt it, but it has been damaged again by the rains. My 50-acre land is also inundated. The only place my children can study is government schools and they are closed.”
According to a resident of Razi Rodhnani village in Sawro union council of Johi taluka, Ghulaam Rasool Rodhnani, Adviser to the Chief Minister on Relief Haleem Adil Shaikh had provided the villagers with a boat on their request. “Even though free rides are available to the people, teachers are still reluctant to come to their schools,” he said.
The adviser visited Razi Khan Rodhnani, Hassan Rodhnani, Mureed Babar, Wali Mohammad Rind villages on Wednesday (today). While talking to Dawn he said that he had listened to the grievances of the rain-hit villagers due to the closure of government schools.
He observed that the school-going children were wondering in the streets and there were no teachers in schools. He assured their parents that he would report the issue to the chief minister and request him to direct the education department to send teachers to the affected villages.
Meanwhile, a nine-year-old Rehan Ali Khan, who studies in the Pakistan Oversees Foundation School in Dadu, has taken it upon himself to inspire other children of his age to study.
Every weekend he visits a nearby village with volunteers of the relief department and civil society organisations and teaches younger children. The adviser also appreciated Rehan’s efforts in Wali Mohammad Rind village and announced a reward to encourage him.
When Dawn contacted the district education officer Dadu, Mohammad Saffar Kachhar, he said that action would be taken against the teachers who were not attending to their duties. “I will personally visit all schools in the district and get them reopened,” he declared.
