KARACHI, Aug 22: The rains that have wreaked havoc on the city infrastructure have also inundated scores of government schools, causing trouble to thousands of students who have yet to begin attending classes of their new academic session, which officially began on Aug 9.

Sources in the education department said government schools in various towns of Karachi had reported about the accumulation of rainwater on their premises for many weeks since June 23, when the city faced the first monsoon cloudburst.

The situation has left in the lurch thousands of students waiting to begin their new academic session. The stagnant rainwater that has inundated more than 50 buildings for several weeks is not being drained due to bureaucratic bottlenecks.

The sources said that more than 3,000 schools in Karachi are under the control of the city district government’s education department, but it has no resources, or will, to drain out the accumulated rainwater. The drainage falls under the jurisdiction of the CDGK’s municipal services department, which made little effort to clean the affected schools.

Schools in Keamari, New Karachi, Korangi, Lyari, Saddar and Jamshed towns are the chief victims of the situation. The Shah Faisal Government School in PECHS, Block 6, and the MAO School in Keamari are the schools to which the officials concerned have paid visits but the situation remains unchanged.

“The situation at the Shah Faisal government school was so critical that the rainwater had entered all of its rooms while most of its furniture had been submerged,” said an official.

The sources said the city nazim had been informed of the situation by the officials concerned and he has already ordered the town municipal officers to look into the matter.

“The nazims and the TMOs of all the towns should look into the matter on an emergency basis because students are the ultimate victims of the situation,” a CDGK official said.

A senior official of the CDGK’s education department said all the district officials (education) had been asked to gather complete information about the schools affected by the rain.

“The DOs of the departments have been asked to assist the town municipal officers in draining out the rainwater from the affected schools,” Fakhar Karim, EDO (Education), CDGK, told Dawn.