HYDERABAD:The Vice-Chancellor (VC) Sindh Agriculture University (SAU) Tando Jam Dr. Fateh Marri has emphasized the need of preparing an effective strategy for providing education even during natural disasters so that the students could continue their studies without any interruption.
He said this while addressing the daylong seminar on “Impact of drought on school attainment in rural Pakistan a gender-disaggregated analysis” hosted by SAU in collaboration with the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) here at Dr AM Sheikh Auditorium on Wednesday.
He said rains and floods in 2022, witnessed that the education of children was badly affected, besides the agriculture sector, climate change was also posing a great threat to the education sector.
The vice chancellor said that as a result of recent rains and floods in different parts of the country as well as drought and famine in Thar, Kohistan, Kachho and Achhro Thar of Sindh in the past, the basic education of children in these areas was badly affected. The school education in these areas is under threat as a result of climate change therefore the satellite education system should be expanded, he suggested.
Addressing the participants of the seminar, the Dean Faculty of Social Science Dr. Aijaz Ali Khooharo informed that more than 20,000 schools had received damages following the floods in the year 2022. This situation also forced around three million students from different parts of Sindh, Balochistan and South Punjab to leave their schools. The government and community-based planners should realize the facts and prepare comprehensive plans to deal with such type of threats in the future, he suggested.
Associate Prof. IBA Dr. Lubna Naz said that famine was also a symptom of climate change which mostly affects the rural areas of the country where the children are suffering shortage of food and nutrition and basic education. She emphasized the need of introducing the concept of mobile schools in disaster-affected areas in order to continue the education of boys and girls students.
The Director University Advancement and Financial Assistance Dr. Muhammad Ismail Kumbhar said that educational institutions were closed during the recent floods and COVID-19. During COVID-19, though online education became possible in cities with internet access, the children in rural areas had suffered educational loss, he said and emphasized the need of making effective plans to meet the challenges of continuing education during expected natural disasters in future.
Among others, Prof Dr Zaheeruddin Mirani, Prof Dr Habib Magsi, Dr Javed Sheikh and Dr Jam Ghulam Murtaza Sahito also shared their views.