Teachers as Social Workers During Emergency Situation Floods of 2010

The study focuses on exploring the new roles as "social-workers" (beyond the formal teaching) that the teachers had to play, as schools were turned into shelters for internally displaced people (IDPs) in Sindh, during flood disasters of 2010, in Pakistan. The findings suggest that during the emergency situations, the teachers were called upon to perform as social workers to respond to the needs of the communities who were affected by the disaster. Given that these roles were new for the teachers, the study participants who were teachers reported some challenges and recommendations for their training to face such future situations which the study documents and represents. The study concludes that in the disaster situations, and especially in the context of Pakistan, a developing country context where the emergency response infra-structure and systems are inadequate, the teachers should be prepared to assume multiple roles (social work related) in addition to their regular teaching roles, and they should be trained for such situations. Hence the study in conclusion put forwards some recommendations for teacher education for teachers' preparation for emergency situations.