Connecting Classroom - Flood Programme review Cluster Updates
Punjab Clusters
Khanewal Cluster:
No School has been affected and only one school has been used as relief camp
Muhammad Ajmal Chaudhry
Senior Head Master
Govt Boys Model High School, Khanewal
Govt schools will open on 13 September and Private school opened on 23 August but Punjab Govt has asked them to close the school but there isn’t any further notification when to open the school. Most probably this will re-open on 13 September.
Multan Cluster:
No school has been affected but two schools are being used as relief camp
1 -
Muhammad Masood Bhutta
Head Master
Govt Pilot Secondary School, Multan
2-
Muhammad Zubair Asi
Senior Head Master
Govt Muslim High School for Boys
Multan
Four to Five hundred refuges are staying in each school. Teachers, some students and local communities are supporting them in terms of providing food and other items. Media is covering stories around these schools. I have asked one of the teachers to upload pictures and a short story about this which he’ll do in due course.
Govt schools will be opening on 13 September but Private school will open on 1 September. Once the school is open then students from La-Salle Higher Secondary School will be involved in fund raising for the flood victims.
Bahwalpur Cluster:
No school has been affected.
Govt School will be opening on 13 September and Private school has been opened from 23 August.
Lahore Cluster:
No school has been affected.
Govt / Private schools will be opening on 13 September.
Sialkot Cluster:
No school has been affected.
Govt / Private schools will be opening on 13 September.
Vehari Cluster:
No school has been affected.
Govt / Private schools will be opening on 13 September.
According to the Ministry of Education all schools will open on 13 September and situation will be under control by that time. The only risk is if water comes in River Satluj then there are chances that Bahawalpur and Vehari areas will be affected.
Khyber P Pakhtoonkwa Clusters
The most affected districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the recent rains and floods are Charsadda, Nowshera, Swat, Shangla, Dir Upper, Dir Lower, Kohistan and D.I.Khan.
70% population of Charsadda district had badly affected in these floodsbut fortunately CC partner Schools in the district are safe andusing as relief camps currently. Affected families settled in Govt. schools of the province will be shifted to some other alternate places during this week so the schools could be re-openedtimely. Details about CC Charsadda partner schools are as follows;
1. Govt. Girls High School Prang: Currently 107 flood affected families are settled in the school, and their shifting to a near by Govt. Degree College for Boys Charsadda will be completed on Thursday. 26-Aug 2010but school re-opening is not yet confirmed.
According to Mrs. Safia Noor,Principalof GGHS Prang and ClusterCoordinator Charsadda Cluster,Homes of 04 teachers and 265 students of the school have been directly affectedin the recent rains and flood and most of these students are living in the school along with their families and the message of school re-opening has already been communicated to these students and their parents. Project Activities of Yr-2 in the CC project have almost completed and sharing and reports on these activities are left which will be completed by the end of September as schools in Charsadda Cluster needs some more time.
*CC Abbottabad Cluster schools collected donations and other necessary dailycommodities for Charsadda cluster schools, which was distributed last weekamongst affectees by a delegation of teachers from Abbottabad cluster (detailed report awaited from Abbottabad cluster).
2. Govt.High School Garhi Hameed Gul: School will re-open on 1st September, 4 to 5 teachers of school are badly affected due to huge damages to their homes and other valuables. Exact details about students will be cleared once the school will be resumed. Project Activities are already completed during the summer vacations and now reports are in process.
3. Dar-ul-Uloom Islamia, Charsadda:Almost23 flood affected families were settled in the Madrassa, which have now been returned back to their homes. Madrassa ground floors is partially affected, particularly students hostels. House of 07 teachers of the Madrassa are badly affected including the Mohtamim Maulana Gohar Shah house, which is completely destroyed. The Madrassa is already closed due to the current academic session end in July 2010 and will be re-open on 21 September 2010 with New Academic session. Local students of the Madrassa are badly affected whiletheir is no confirmed information about boarding students belong to other districts of Khyber Pakhtoonkwa and FATA.
4. Bacha Khan Foundation School, Charsadda:Unfortunately the Principal of the school had resignedearlier this month andthe school phone and the new in-charge principalincluding CC School Coordinator cell phones are also not responding.
5.Govt. Girls High School Subhan Khwar:The school along with the nearby by population are safe in the recent rains and flood and their is no affect on the project activities from the school side.
Schools in other CC clusters i.e. Peshawar, Swabi, Mardan, Abbottabad and Haripur are safe in the recent rains and floods.
According to Mr. Hakimullah Khan, Additional Director, Elementary & Secondary Education Khyber Pakhtoonkwa; Schools in Abbottabad are already open as it is the Hilly station and their schools close in Winter for 02 months vacations, while schools in remaining clusters will be open on 1st Sept'10 which is not yet confirmed and will be publicallyannouncedon 27 August. Private schools in these clusters except Charsadda are already open from 16 August 2010.
He also assured that Govt. is committed to provide free books to those students who lost their books in the recent floods, Govt. has already collectedextra stock of curriculum books from other districts of the province, which will be distributed amongst students of flood affected areas of the province.
Generally the priorities of the Govt. of Khyber Pakhtoonkwa has been diverted to Relief and Rehabilitation activities in the flood affected areas of the province and still the assessment of losses of Public and Private propertiesincluding Govt. assets (schools and other official buildings) are in process and will take further one month.
As mentioned earlier, all developmental and non-developmental activities including Govt. officials foreign visits are temporarily banned. Lost/Damage assessment:
I personally feel, once the schools areformally resumedthen we will be able to get complete details from the respective schools Principals, teachers, students as well as respective communities.
Islamabad
We have three clusters in Islamabad (Urban, Rural, Bhara Kau) which are under the Federal Directorate of Education. The fourth Cluster (Murree) falls under the Army public schools Secretariat .
None of the four clusters, their schools, Heads, teachers or students have been directly affected with the floods. All public schools under the FDE are closed and will reopen after Eid on 13 September 2010. The schools in Murree are continuing their daily school routine. (There schools close in December).
All governments employees have been asked to give one days salary in the funds for the distressed people. Other than this none of the cluster schools are used as relief camps or fund raising sites.
Deputy Director Training, FDE and Principal APS, Murree and reconfirmed the above mentioned.
Sindh
Bhitshah – pilot cluster (located in rural Sindh)
The place is still on very high alert as the flood has hit the banks of District Matayri as I write. All the teachers are safe and the schools are being used as relief camps. There are many families that have migrated to Matayri and the schools are not to be opened before 10 September 10.
Schools are closed and teachers are busy in supervising the arrangements to prevent losses to life and property thus monthly cluster meeting and project activities will not be carried out until situation comes to a rest which will be followed by the rehabilitation process for the flood affected area. Due to the expected flood in river Indus, ‘Hala village ‘is likely to be badly affected in the District of Matyari.
2O Relief Camps and 25 Medical Camps have been established with availability of 25 boats in District Matiari where 10 vulnerable points have been identified. These camps are formed in schools and hospitals. In Sindh and Balochistan, role of Education Ministry is very nominal at this point , as these tasks are carried out by the District Management Group, officers (DMG ) which are mostly comprises of DCO’s (District Co-ordination Officer, now Deputy Commissioners in some districts ) and Disaster Management Officer under the supervision of Chief Secretary. Therefore, the DCO’s are empowered to take necessary actions which also Includes identifying Govt schools and hospitals for relief camps in their respective regions. DCO Matyari has directed the relevant departments to accelerate their precautionary measures. Control rooms have also been established in all line departments including Irrigation, District governments, Police Information Offices. Moreover, equipments and machinery including excavators, bulldozers, loaders, tractors, trolleys, standby generators, stones, gunny bags, and torches have been provided at each vulnerable point – said by the DCO.
Two CC schools are being selected as a relief camps. Following are the details:
1. Govt. Boys High School Matyari, district Matayri, Sindh
2. The City school , Bhit Shah, Talka Hala, District Mayari, Sindh, ( Private )
Tando Allahyar year 1cluster (located in rural Sindh)
Being the neighbouring district Tando Allayar is also on very high alert but the schools are still operational in this district and cluster. The teachers are volunteering to in the relief camps. Like Matayri, there are many families (almost 150) that have migrated to Tando Allayar.
Schools are directed to remain close until further notice which will certainly affect the project activities.
Flood water from Guddu Barrage, Sukkur is being diverted to Tando Soomro via main Rorhi Canal which is expected to hit this district in couple of days which will affect agriculture and irrigation system to a great extent. All the possible efforts were being undertaken to convince the section of population potentially threatened by approaching flood water to evacuate the area and move to safer places.
I have been told by the DCO, that more than 17 Relief Camps and 17 Medical Camps have been established with availability of 15 boats in Tando Allahyar, Tando Soomro and Tando Muhammad Khan where three vulnerable points have been identified. So far, no CC school is identified as a Relief Camp; however, Govt Boys high school Tando Soomro is likely to be picked up as a relief camp – if required be!
Sukkur , year 1 cluster ((located in upper Sindh)
Sukkur is settling down as the flood has passed them but not without causing a lot of destruction. All the schools are still being used as relief camps and will continue to work in the same way till 10 September 10
Sukkur is the most devastated affected district in Sindh. Flood at Sukkur and Guddu barrages have washed away small towns, villages and huge infrastructure. Schools are being closed. No project activity at least for this month.
Flood wave of 1.1 million cusecs of water has passed through Guddu Barrage which has damage some part of the barrage. Immediate repair work was being carried out by the Irrigation Department while relief camps have also been established there. 1.4 million cusecs of water expected to hit sukkur in couple of days, which is quite alarming. All concerned government departments had been put on red alert to cope with any eventuality.
All the CC schools are actively involved in the relief activities. Below are the facts:
1. Aziz School of Excellence (approx 40 people, 8 different families are being accommodated in this school)
2. Govt high school Rohri, (80 – 90 affectees are placed in this school)
3. Govt Elementary School Hussaini road Gharibabad (50 – 60 affectees)
4. Govt main primary school main Minara Road (100 affectees)
5. Workers Model School (50 affectees)
Karachi clusters
Clusters in Karachi have not been affected by the flood and all the schools are open.
Balochistan Clusters
All the teachers and students are safe in Pishin and not affected by the flood. Schools are open.
Mirpur Clusters
Connecting Classroom strand under FCO project has some what affected from the recent floods in AJK. Schools have been given extension to their summer vacations from 9 August to 30 August. This will delay some of the planned activities for the schools. However joint activities including UK and AJK might not be affected as such due to summer vacations in UK.
Apart from late opening of the schools, buildings and road networks at Mirpur Division have not been damaged but some of the schools near the dam have been occupied by some displaced people. No Cluster schools are involved in accommodating such displaced people
Initiatives to be taken to reshape programme plan in light of floods:
Our partners in CC and AC are already starting to respond in their activities. We are also consulting partners here and in the UK on this and our future plans. This is particularly important regarding the UK diaspora who are our key audience now and how they response is crucial. So far, the response from eg Rotherham is positive and suggests we can continue as planned - whilst of course encouraging joint curriculum and social action projects, community events and communications relating to the relief efforts that help the UK and Mirpur relationships, exchange, trust and understanding develop. Given the priority to deliver the Mirpur project to plan and budget in a tight timescale, we can not be too flexible or lengthy in any replanning.
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