Floodwaters have disrupted education in several parts of Chitral after scores of bridges were washed away, cutting off students from schools and other educational institutions.
In Lower Chitral, the valleys of Sheshi Koh and Karimabad have lost around 20 bridges to flooding, severing links between villages on both banks of local streams and leaving many students unable to attend school.
Former Karimabad union nazim Yaqub Khan said children living on the opposite banks of the streams could not reach their schools because the connecting bridges had been swept away.
He said nearly half of the students enrolled at Government High School Susoom belonged to villages across the nullah, where the bridge providing access to the school had been destroyed.
Mr Khan recalled that the area had faced similar risks in the past, citing a March 2016 incident in which seven senior students of the same school died after being caught in a snow avalanche near the nullah while travelling to school.
He said students across the valley had faced severe difficulties after schools reopened on July 1, with a recent flash flood washing away another 12 bridges over the nullah.
According to the former nazim, schoolchildren in the neighbouring Arkari and Garam Chashma valleys were facing similar difficulties because of damaged infrastructure and disrupted connectivity.
The situation is also critical in Upper Chitral, where flash floods have destroyed key bridges over the River Chitral, disrupting connectivity between several communities.
A major access problem has emerged between Miragram No 2 and Bang, where hundreds of students from Miragram No 2 and surrounding areas have been unable to attend school in Bang after the main bridge was washed away.
Likewise, students from Bang can no longer cross the river to attend the Aga Khan Higher Secondary School in Miragram No 2.
Mohammad Wazir Khan, chairman of the Mastuj-Broghil Road Movement and a former district councillor, described the situation as alarming.
He said the most difficult conditions were being witnessed in Unawuch village, where boys and girls were forced to cross the swollen river using unstable makeshift wooden bridges, putting their lives at risk to reach their schools.
