LOWER DIR, Pakistan: The wooden roof of a classroom in the Sabar Shah Primary School hung loose earlier this month, its cracked walls lined with nervous children who shuffle in every morning despite the danger.
They sit at their desks watching the ceiling instead of their books, each rumble of thunder a reminder that the roof could collapse at any time.
Since mid-August, heavy monsoon rains have battered Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, damaging 704 schools — 669 partially and 35 completely — according to the provincial Elementary and Secondary Education Department. Nationwide, over 900 people have been killed since the monsoon season started on June 26, at least 411 of them in KP.
In the province’s Lower Dir district, the worst-affected in terms of school damage, more than 100 buildings have been hit, leaving thousands of children struggling to continue their education inside unsafe classrooms.
“After the cracks occurred in the walls, we can not focus on our studies because we have the damage to the school building in our mind,” said Abdullah, a 10-year-old third grader. “Since we have no other nearby government school, I have to pursue my education in this same school, whatever the circumstances may be, but my studies are impacted, and I fear for my future.”
