Pakistan Floods: Two million children missing out on school

Makeshift schools have been set up in shelters across Pakistan due to the floods

Nearly 33 million people were evacuated across Pakistan due to heavy flooding in the country this summer.

Now two million children are missing out on school – with many heading to temporary places to keep up with their learning.

The floods this summer were the biggest that Pakistan has ever experienced and nearly 27,000 schools were damaged.

Even though it has been months since the floods first hit, many buildings across the country are still waterlogged, or even underwater.

What else has happened in the news this week?

Huge areas of the country were underwater after an extremely heavy monsoon season

What has been happening in Pakistan?

Earlier this year, in summer, one third of Pakistan was covered in floods due to heavy rainfall in the monsoon season.

What is the Monsoon?

These were the biggest floods the county had ever seen.

The Indus River, a huge river which flows through Pakistan, burst its banks.

More than 15% of people in Pakistan had to leave their homes. Roads, bridges and crops were also washed away.

Lots of children were moved away from their homes and had temporary places to live – many still have not moved back

Why can’t children go back to school?

After the floods, thousands of schools across the country were damaged, and children were unable to learn.

Unicef, a group that looks after children and education all over the world, say lots of children are not sure when they will be able to go back to school.

Some schools remain waterlogged, and many will need lots of building work to make them a safe place for children to go to again.

Unicef says children are also missing out on access to healthcare, and other types of support, because they can’t go to school.

Heavy flooding and rain can cause some buildings to collapse, and many are still underwater

What help is being given?

In Pakistan Unicef has set up 500 temporary learning centres. These are places where children can come in and learn, and they have been set up in the areas that were worst-affected by the floods.

They are trying to help children who might not have gone to school before the floods, and help them adjust to school life.

Last week China announced that it will be giving an extra $68 million to help Pakistan, which makes their total assistance $150 million. The USA has given $97 million since June.

However, experts think the cost of the floods for Pakistan will be around $40 billion, which means it could take a long time for the country to recover from such a huge event.

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