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School for girls or water bills: A choice many Pakistani parents face

UmarJustice

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This problem along with water tank mafia is causing bigger issues to the poor than we realize hopefully Diamar Basha dam will help with this OR not.


How the fallout of the water crisis in Pakistan's commercial hub Karachi is felt by school going girls.
For Mohammad Abbas and Hameeda, their daughter meant the world to them and yet they pulled her out of school to meet water expenses.

The couple lives in Qayyumabad, a densely populated and underprivileged settlement in Pakistan's port city Karachi. Nine years ago, when their only daughter was born, they named her Iqra, the first word revealed by God to the Prophet Muhammad, which means read, according to the Muslim faith.

But poverty and social structure shaped by decades of patriarchy compelled Abbas and Hameeda to take Iqra out of school in 2018, while allowing their son to continue his education.

“My monthly income is $125 (Rs.20,000) out of which I spend $50 (Rs.8000) for house rent. I also have to foot the drinking water bill of at least $15 (Rs. 2,500) per month,” Abbas said.

Iqra is still hopeful that one day she will be able to go back to school.

“I want to study and become a schoolteacher. I love going to school,” a shy and smiling Iqra told TRT World.

She enjoyed her English class the most, she said, and wanted to speak the language as fluently as her English teacher did.

“Two of my friends still go to school. My mother says I will go again next year when my father has more work – better work”, she said.

Karachi, Pakistan’s largest metropolis, has long been affected by severe water shortages. A person's social standing determines access to clean water. Affluent neighbourhoods buy bathing water from private tanker services and potable water from other private distribution companies, such as Nestle. Low-income families however struggle to keep up with such expenses and they often have to sacrifice other necessities — even their children's education in many cases — to meet this basic need.

https://www.trtworld.com/magazine/s...ls-a-choice-many-pakistani-parents-face-36352
 
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This is the same story heard around the world, workers living hand to mouth, sad as it is. Unity and organisation is the only solution.
 
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