•The Minister of Education details efforts to make up for wasted time; the festival wave of semesters is for the affected students
• Villages of Multan, Lodhran and Bahawalpur flooded Noraja Bhutta vulnerability
Lahore: Punjab School Education Minister Rana Sikandar Hayat said on Thursday that 3,000 schools in the home were destroyed floodseriously affecting the education of thousands of students.
He spoke at a meeting with representatives of UNICEF representative Pernille Ironside to discuss progress on various educational programs. The meeting also decided to strengthen cooperation to achieve better results.
The Minister informed UNICEF representatives that the school education sector faced great challenges due to flooding in the province.
He said the department was already facing a lack of facilities, but the disaster destroyed thousands of schools, many of which were still underwater.
“Now, the department faces the challenge of repairing these schools,” he said, adding that three transformations have begun in the operating schools to meet the educational needs of displaced students.
The minister said it would take about three months to repair the damaged school. Meanwhile, the government plans to rent private buildings and establish tent schools in flooded areas to ensure class continuity.
He added that the government has hosted the Wavernment semester music festival for students belonging to flooded areas and will also provide scholarships to them.
Several villages are flooded
Meanwhile, despite official claims of flooding in Punjab, three violations occurred on the Noraja Bhutta embankment on the Sutlej River, resulting in catastrophic accumulations that flooded several villages in Multan, Lordran and Bahavalpur regions.
This situation is still in severe state in the eastern part of Jalalpur Pirwala, Lodhran and Bahawalpur Muradpur Soiwala and Sabra are surrounded by 8 to 10 feet of stagnant water. Relentless pressure leads to widespread damage to homes and property.
“The water has not dropped. About 70% of the houses have collapsed, and the rest, if nothing is done, the rest will follow.” “The water has changed the color and we are now seeing the spread of water-borne diseases. It’s a health crisis.”
Residents pointed out one major infrastructure barrier: nearby highways. They are all intended to allow water to flow through underneath, but are insufficient, but act as a dam to capture water on one side.
“The streets are not now applicable to traffic anyway. Authorities should violate it to cause water flow to lose,” said Altaf Long. “Curves currently are not used for water access; they are just getting locals and cattle over. They are completely blocked.”
NHA General Manager Kashif Nawaz told dawn There is no doubt that the street is violated, and the water passes through the culvert below. He added that efforts are being made to put the stone around a fragile viewpoint without closing the culvert.
Posted in Dawn on September 26, 2025
