Girl at school on River Bank


Group photo of children with SRC members.
Alongside the left bank of Indus River at 25 km from Thatta city, Govt. Primary School Ali Muhammad Halo is relatively in good condition as compared to perceived model of typical government schools of Sindh with no boundary walls and falling roof. Blackboard of one room structure tells 70 boys and girls are enrolled at school whereas 50 children were present on last learning day. These children come from broken thatched houses of neighboring scattered population with great hope to learn. But they have their fears…

“When flood comes, our houses and school submerge for several days”, Roshan Said with an unhappy face. After a brief silence she further said “And during floods were migrate to Makli to settle in camps till water recedes.”

Roshan is 11 years old girl living at nearby small village Muhammad Siddique Solangi with her parents. Her father is a farmer and her mother is a housewife. She is very keen to learn so that one day she becomes a good citizen. She is chairperson of her school’s School Representative Council (SRC). When asked why she volunteered for SRC, she told us “I like helping people. It feels good. My role in SRC is to help other children’s keep school clean, water the plant, arbitrate if there is a fight between children.”

“Did your parent’s give you permission to join SRC?” curiously I asked her. With a bright smile on her face she replied “Yes, when I told father about my joining SRC, he said ‘Awesome’”. She further said “My teacher and my father are proud of me because I am smart student and I like to be at school”.

These School Representative Committees were recently formed at 15 villages of UC Bellow and Jaar of District Sujawal (previously Thatta) under the objectives of Schools Safety Project funded by Plan International. These SRC’s will work as schools discipline keepers between teachers, parents, and children. SRC have shown rapid progress in bringing back out of school children and new enrollments. SRC members also ensure school premises are kept very clean and tidy. SRC members perform duty of visiting houses of absent children and bring them to school. “We read again and again to children that had been absent from school so that they maintain pace with us” Roshan told us, “With that we also get revision of our old lessons”.


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