Education Cluster in Pakistan: Lessons Learned: Flood Response

The purpose of the study is to highlight the destruction of schools in Pakistan in recent floods and provide key recommendations that can allow the country to draft contingency plans in case of natural emergencies. Desk review, on-line survey (both close-ended and open-ended questions) and interviews/focus groups were conducted with key stakeholders including government representatives, NGOs, UN counterparts and donors. The results reveal that a massive 5,633 schools were used as shelters during floods and attempts to rebuilt and rehabilitate schools did not pay adequate attention to enhance the quality of education. While the Education Cluster was recognized as a platform for communication, lack of clarity was observed between members in regards to funding mechanism. The figures produced by government were largely deemed to be inaccurate whereas the data collection department by Clusters was held to be relatively strong.  However, lack of integration between various Clusters operating in Pakistan and lack of awareness of INEE Minimum Standards Training along with ambiguity in defining roles and responsibilities contributed towards ineffectiveness of clusters.

The report recommends that schools should not be used as a means to provide shelter and attempts at rehabilitation of school must focus on enhancing quality of education. National clusters must strive to build partnerships whereas provincial and hub clusters must be formed in districts that currently lack one. An aggressive approach towards fund raising should be adopted whereas attempts must be made to enhance coordination with other clusters through liaison. Emphasis must be placed on training and development of clusters and establishing a monitoring framework while key roles and responsibilities must also be defined. Lessons learnt from past must not be avoided and instead knowledge generated must be utilized to ensure the future opportunities are not lost.