22 September 2010
UNICEF and partners promote hygiene in schools affected by conflict and floods in Pakistan
Children in the Islampur in NW Pakistan are surrounded by the devastation
caused by the recent floods. Destroyed roadways, infrastructures and homes have left their lives in shambles. The instability in this region is exacerbated by the ongoing military conflict in recent years.
But hope and normalcy for children is arriving. Schools are once again opening their doors and students are eagerly returning. Zarbakhta's family home was destroyed in the flood and she herself is illiterate.
But she insists that her 9 year old daughter, Maria attends school. At a hygiene promotion session Maria and her classmates are taught sanitary practices such as hand washing with soap, teeth cleaning and the basics of personal care.
UNICEF is providing the students with hygiene kits to promote sanitary practices in school and at home to curb the outbreak of disease. UNICEF is also conducting hygiene sessions for men to and distributing extended family hygiene kits. The conflict and the flood together have destroyed hundreds of schools in the area. As a result classes are overcrowded. Maria's four room school accommodates nearly seven hundred girls.
Fazli Ahad , Assistant District Officer for Education
"The classes are now overcrowded. In each and every class there are 100 plus students."
UNICEF has set up temporary learning spaces equipped with basic educational supplies to bolster the children's educational experience. But despite the adversities that surround them, the enthusiasm of these children remains unshakeable.
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