More than 200 children have lost their lives due to torrential monsoon rains across Pakistan since the end of June, with millions missing days of school as rainfall breaks records, Save the Children said.

Large areas of Punjab are under water as rivers continue to flood, with more rain forecast. In Sialkot, rainfall broke records with nearly 364 mm falling in just 24 hours, according to the Pakistan Meteorological Department. Children and their families need food, clean water and healthcare after fast-flowing waters and torrential rains forced more than 200,000 people to leave their homes.

About 1 million people are currently affected by the floods across Pakistan, according to the UN, and that number could increase as water moves downstream to neighbouring Sindh province, the epicentre of the unprecedented floods in 2022 [1].

About 25 million children in Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous province , have not returned to school, two weeks after the summer break was supposed to end. Elementary schools for children aged 5 to 13 – about 70% of all schools – remain closed in the province [2].

Children in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa lost a week of school after cloudbursts - a rare weather phenomenon in which more than 100mm of rain falls within an hour in a highly concentrated area - triggered massive downpours and flash floods, killing at least 479 people. At least 674 schools have been destroyed or damaged , with many classrooms unusable after torrents of mud and debris swept through villages [1].