In Khairpur Nathan Shah tehsil of Dadu district, there is a tent school where primary school children study under challenging conditions. The effects of last year’s floods have not yet vanished, and no electricity or clean drinking water is available.

Faraz and Fayaz, third and fifth graders at the school in the village of Rasi Naich, are bathing in sweat. They say the heat inside the tent is so intense that it becomes difficult to read and write.

Last year, the MNV drain and Suprio dam floodwater reached the middle school, the girls’ primary school, and the boys’ primary school in Zaree Naich.

The building of a boys’ school in Zaari Naich, educating more than a hundred children, has been destroyed. Abdul Sattar Naich, a middle school teacher in the same village, says that the floodwater caused the school’s outer wall to collapse, and the rooms and washrooms were razed.

“When the water receded, UNICEF and an NGO called Save the Children helped build a temporary school using tents. However, studying and teaching inside the tent during the summer is no less than torture. The children have been studying in the same tent for ten months, and now the rainy season has returned, but the construction of the school has not started.”

He says that even in 2010, the floodwater entered the school building but remained intact.

A few kilometres away from here, the Girls’ Primary School students in Ladhan are sitting on mats on the floor of a dilapidated room.

Salma, a fourth-standard student, says the school was closed for a few months after the flood. When the students returned after the water dried up, they found the chairs and desks damaged from standing in the water. Now, one hundred and fifty female students of the school are studying by sitting on the floor in three rooms.

Last year’s floods caused widespread destruction in Khairpur, Nathan. Most areas of this tehsil, with a population of four lac, had stagnant water for three months. Meanwhile, local social worker Abid Babbar kept ferrying people to safe places in his boat.

He says that 15 out of 18 Khairpur Nathan Shah union councils had water all around. Only Sita, Borri, and Kakar are safe. Most of the school buildings collapsed, or their foundations were shaken.

He says that apart from Zaari Naich and Ladhan, several villages like Mohammad Bakhsh Leghari, Lolja, Katri, and Sattar Dinu Dipper have shifted their schools to tents. The government has not started the work of rehabilitating the schools. Thardeep is also providing tents, Save the Children and other NGOs.

In Khairpur Nathan Shah, the Taluk Education Officer Primary, Lutf Ali Khoso, tells Lok Sujag that all the primary schools in 15 union councils of this tehsil were submerged in water during the last flood. He cites the example of primary schools in Pattrai Bagheo, Tharo Arain, and Jabal Babbar, saying that their buildings have collapsed.

According to him, the students of a girls’ primary school in a village called Pattrai Baghio are studying under a tree this summer. The washrooms have collapsed, and girls face many problems in their absence.

He says that Thardeep and some other non-governmental organisations are surveying washroom construction. However, no schedule has been given for the construction of the school.

Lutf Ali Khoso said that the total number of primary schools in Khairpur Nathan Shah is 335. Among them are 52 girls’ and 283 boys’ schools, where 32 thousand students are studying. Eight primary schools for girls and 30 for boys have been shifted to tents.

Ali Bakhsh Chandio, the Taluk Education Officer Secondary in Khairpur Nathan Shah, says there are 17 high and secondary schools in the tehsil, and their infrastructure has been wholly or partially destroyed.

On May 28, the Chief Ombudsman of Sindh visited the area and expressed concern over the challenging conditions faced by students in these schools. He directed the authorities to complete the repair and construction of schools and submit a report.

Mohammad Jamin Zardari, the Engineer of the Education Works Department in Dadu district, says that the department has issued tenders to repair all the schools in the district, and their construction will start soon.