Sindh to prepare school building Policy to built climate change proof buildings says Sardar Shah

Sindh Education and Culture Minister Syed Sardar Ali Shah has said that education infrastructure has been destroyed in the province due to climate affects and inappropriate  planning as well. The minister emphasized that they have to make construction plans of school buildings according to modern requirements so that  children can study in a safe environment in the future. The minister  said this while speaking as a chief guest at the workshop “Building Back Better: Rethinking School Construction in context of climate change” at a local hotel in Karachi on Monday. The one-day workshop has been organized with the joint collaboration of Sindh Government, UNESCO, World Bank, USAID and JICA in which Education Works officers and representatives of other related organizations participated. Provincial Education Minister Syed Sardar Shah said that due to the rains, 20 percent of the schools in Sindh have been completely destroyed,  while 31 percent of the schools have been partially damaged  that affected the 50 percent of  teaching process in the province. In the rehabilitation phase, minister emphasized that attention needs to be given to the school infrastructure according to the modern requirements and considering the regional weather forecast particularly the Sindh province. He remarked that Coastal, hilly, plain and desert regions of Sindh have completely different climates, it would be inappropriate to  construct uniform infrastructure in all regions. He further said that they are preparing a school building policy in Sindh which will be approved by the cabinet under which the structure of buildings will be suggested according to the regional climatic environment in Sindh. Education Minister said that along with making school buildings safe, they will also be made environment-friendly.  He added that In the past, while building school buildings, we  all the stakeholders were included , but  children were neglected. ‘ Now school  buildings will be constructed  keeping the climate change and safety of children in mind. Speaking on the occasion, Naseer Memon said that just as different structures are built in riverine , coastal and settled areas, there is a need for such a strategy to be adopted in  construction school buildings as well. He suggested to conduct the engineering audit of all school buildings to identify the faults. Naseer Memon also suggested that the school building should be made as a shelter in case of natural calamities in the future.  The engineers of Education  Works were   imparted the technical aspects of construction in context of climate effects and modern structuring.