Back to School: How UNICEF Helps Educate Children in Crisis Zones
Introduction: Even in a Tent, a Child Can Dream
In disaster-hit areas of Pakistan, schools are often the first to close and the last to reopen. When floods wash away classrooms or conflict forces families to flee, education is interrupted — sometimes permanently.
But learning can’t wait. That’s why UNICEF works across Pakistan to make sure every child has access to education, even in the middle of a crisis — whether it’s by setting up temporary schools, training emergency teachers, or giving out school kits to children who have lost everything.
🌊 The Crisis: When Classrooms Collapse
Over the last decade, Pakistan has faced:
- Massive floods (2010, 2022) that damaged or destroyed thousands of schools
- Ongoing conflict and displacement in regions like ex-FATA, KP, and Balochistan
- Earthquakes that left rural schools in ruins
- COVID-19 school closures that affected over 30 million children
These emergencies don’t just disrupt lessons — they increase the risk of child labor, early marriage, and permanent dropouts, especially for girls.
🎒 UNICEF’s Emergency Education Response
UNICEF’s approach to education in emergencies is fast, flexible, and focused on rebuilding hope.
1. 🏕️ Temporary Learning Centers (TLCs)
In areas where schools are destroyed or unsafe, UNICEF helps set up TLCs — safe, tent-based classrooms equipped with:
- Teaching materials, blackboards, and furniture
- Learning kits for students
- Trained emergency teachers (often recruited from the local community)
- Child protection measures like gender-separate toilets and trained staff to prevent abuse
In the 2022 floods, UNICEF set up over 1,500 TLCs across Sindh and Balochistan.
2. 👩🏫 Teacher Training and Psychosocial Support
Emergencies are traumatic for children. Teachers play a key role in helping them recover.
UNICEF:
- Trains emergency education facilitators in psychosocial support
- Integrates life skills and emotional learning into temporary school programs
- Ensures that teachers are from the local area and culturally connected to their students
This helps children feel safe, supported, and emotionally ready to learn again.
3. 📚 Accelerated Learning and Curriculum Continuity
Many displaced or flood-affected children lose months or years of education.
UNICEF supports:
- Accelerated learning programs to help students catch up
- Flexible class schedules for children who also work or care for siblings
- Coordination with education departments to align temporary teaching with national curriculum
- Mobile classrooms and radio learning in areas without school buildings
4. 🎁 Learning Kits and School Supplies
A pencil can be powerful when everything else is gone.
UNICEF provides:
- School-in-a-box kits with notebooks, pencils, erasers, and learning games
- Back-to-school kits for children in shelters or camps
- Specialized kits for children with disabilities to ensure inclusion
This not only restores dignity — it helps children reconnect with normalcy.
5. 🧭 Long-Term Recovery and School Rebuilding
UNICEF doesn’t leave when the news cycle moves on. It works with government and local partners to:
- Rebuild disaster-resilient school buildings
- Advocate for child-friendly and gender-sensitive infrastructure
- Help return students from TLCs to formal schooling
- Push for education to be included in national disaster response plans
🧒 Focus on the Most Vulnerable
UNICEF ensures that education support reaches:
- Girls, especially in rural and conservative regions
- Displaced children and refugees, such as Afghan children living in camps
- Children with disabilities
- Children from flood-hit and low-income families
“In every emergency, the child who risks being left behind is a girl. We can’t let that happen.”
— UNICEF Education Officer, Sindh
📊 Impact in Numbers (2010–2024)
- Over 2 million children reached through emergency education programs
- 4,000+ TLCs set up in disaster-hit areas
- 20,000+ teachers and facilitators trained in emergency response
- Education included in national disaster recovery planning with UNICEF support
🧾 Final Thoughts: Learning Is a Lifeline
A school may be just a tent. The classroom may be dusty. But for children in crisis, education is more than survival — it’s hope, healing, and the first step back to normal life.
Thanks to UNICEF’s continued work across Pakistan, millions of children are getting a second chance to learn — and to dream again.
“Disasters destroy buildings, not dreams.”
— UNICEF Pakistan
