Flood, School & Effect’s : J&K

Jammu & Kashmir, 29 September 2014 :: Though it’s afternoon and a normal school day, the children of Gopalanghat village (Pattan Block of Baramulla district) are busy playing on the street. The lone primary school of the village has been flooded for the last three weeks.

“To make matters worse, school children were supposed to write their examination from today. They are not only devoid of study but will also fail to give their exams on time,” informed Hilal Ahmad, a teacher at the primary school where 65 children study.

He added, “I have been coming here for the last two weeks to see the water level, which has come down but still there is no approach. On September 7, when the water level increased in the flood channel near our village, the school building was totally submerged under water.”

The situation is so bad that the children cannot go inside the school till the government has carried out a safety assessment of the school building.

As per government estimates, around 1200 school buildings in the state have been affected by the floods and will be accessible only after a safety inspection. The state government proposes to start schools from temporary structure till the safety inspection is over.

To initiate this process, Save the Children shifted one such submerged school at Check Jamal Mir village to a railway’s building. The NGO also distributed free school bags, books and set up a temporary school in the vicinity of the relief camp.

“Save the Children also provided the mattress and board which was necessary for starting classes on 25 September. The school building is still submerged under water and it would have been impossible to start classes without help from the organisation,” said Izaz Rashid, the school teacher.

The flood affected population of the valley is also concerned over the closure of schools in villages. “All measures should be taken to reopen schools at the earliest. The children also have nothing to do and their education is getting affected as schools are either under water or have collapsed. Moreover, our children have also lost the books and other stationary — as most of the houses in our village were under water,” informed Abdur Rahim Huru, village head of Gopalanghat village.

“Opening of schools is one of our main priorities in the state. As soon as possible, the school buildings should be shifted to safer buildings or tents to start regular classes,” said Ray Kancharla, National Manager for Humanitarian & Disaster Risk Reduction programmes at Save the Children.