Photo from the aftermath of the 2015 earthquakes, when thousands of schools were damaged or destroyed. Many schools in today’s flood-affected areas now face a similar path to recovery.
By now, everyone is aware of the terrible flooding that swept away homes, schools, shops, bridges, and in some cases entire villages in the Rasuwa and Nuwakot Districts of central Nepal in late August.
Many survivors who were forced to flee their homes suddenly to reach higher ground are now left with only what little they could carry with them. Nepal-based colleagues of GCE-US member Educate the Children (ETC) have reported that at least 22 schools in the flood-affected districts have been damaged, including 12 that were completely destroyed. Communications within the region and between the region and the outside world remain extremely difficult due to the already limited infrastructure that has now been damaged or destroyed, meaning the final tally may be far worse.
Educate the Children (ETC) worked in portions of Rasuwa and Nuwakot Districts from 1994 to 2002, and its Nepal-based staff and board members still maintain many professional and personal connections there. Fortunately, all are safe. During its time in the region, ETC supported some two dozen schools through scholarships, classroom supplies, teacher training, and structural improvements, benefiting thousands of students and their families, as well as dozens of teachers.
The link between disaster preparedness, recovery, and children’s education may not seem immediately obvious. But on closer examination, the connection is clear:
- Adults who have received at least a solid basic education may be better able to understand and respond effectively to emergency communications, including evaluating potentially conflicting or confusing instructions. A recent example is school principal Rajendra Dawadi, who had the presence of mind to direct hundreds of students already on campus, along with multiple busloads of arriving students, to move to higher ground immediately, helping save hundreds of lives.
- Because higher levels of education are often associated with increased earning potential, educated individuals may be better positioned to replace at least some of the possessions and assets lost during a disaster.
- People who can afford to build sturdier homes are less likely to face total loss in the event of a low- to moderately intense natural disaster. While this flooding was clearly an extreme event against which even well-built structures struggled to withstand, stronger construction remains an important component of resilience.
- Students who stay in school long enough to pursue careers in fields such as engineering, healthcare, and communications technology can apply those skills to supporting disaster-affected communities. They help provide time-sensitive information, strengthen communications networks, deliver emergency and ongoing medical care, and rebuild communities in the aftermath of disasters.
Nepalis are resilient. They have often had to be. To the extent that today’s children can remain in school for as many years as possible and receive a quality education while there, tomorrow’s adults will be better prepared to cope with and recover from future disasters.
This is just one of the many reasons ETC remains committed to supporting primary, secondary, and post-secondary students in Nepal in Nepal. Education is not only a right for young people today, but also an investment in a stronger, more resilient future for themselves and their communities.
