In flood-affected communities of Nuwakot and Rasuwa, damaged roads, disrupted schools and struggling families are making children’s return to education increasingly uncertain. As immediate relief gives way to recovery, keeping children safe, connected to their families and able to continue learning is becoming a priority.
The children were drawing.
Inside a nursery room at a school in Bidur-4, Nuwakot, now being used as a temporary holding centre for families affected by the floods, children sat with paper and colours. Some drew. Others played together. Their surroundings had changed, but for a moment, they were doing something familiar.
They were trying to keep being children.
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Outside, reality was harder to ignore. Houses were damaged. Roads and bridges were affected. Relief vehicles carrying food, mattresses and other essential supplies were making their way from Kathmandu towards Nuwakot and Rasuwa. In several affected areas, schools have become temporary shelters for families who have nowhere else to stay.
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For children, the floods have disrupted far more than a school day. They have interrupted routines, affected access to education and placed additional pressure on families already struggling to recover.
As the response moves from immediate relief towards recovery, one priority stands out: children need to remain safe, continue learning and stay connected to their families and communities.
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A safe place to be a child: Child Care Space
In a disaster, young children need more than food and shelter. They need protection, care and a safe place to play.
For parents who have lost homes, belongings or livelihoods, providing that care while rebuilding their lives can be difficult.
SOS Children’s Villages Nepal will establish child-care spaces for children below five years of age in affected communities in Nuwakot and Rasuwa. The spaces will operate from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., provide two meals a day and include recreational activities. Local authorities have committed to helping identify suitable spaces.
While children receive care in a safe environment, parents can have time to work, collect essential supplies and begin restoring their livelihoods.
It is a practical intervention, but one that can give families something they urgently need after a disaster: time to recover.
When the road to school disappears
For school-aged children, one of the biggest challenges is getting back to learning.
At Shree Nilkantha Secondary School in Bhotitar, Rasuwa, damaged roads and disrupted transportation have made reaching school increasingly difficult. Madhav Lamichhane, principal of the school, estimates that around 40–50 children could be at risk of discontinuing their education if connectivity is not restored. The exact number is still being assessed.
The disruption goes beyond transportation.
Many children have lost or no longer have access to school uniforms, shoes, bags, books and other essential learning materials. A teacher at the school described the immediate need simply: “The children do not have books now. We need books, not only copies.”
SOS Children’s Villages Nepal will provide books and other essential educational materials, including school uniforms, to affected children and coordinate with schools in the area to identify needs and ensure support reaches those who need it.
For children whose daily journey to school has been interrupted, restoring education is about more than reopening classrooms. It is about helping them regain a routine, a sense of normality and a connection to their future.
Keeping children close to home
The effects of the disaster reach beyond school.
At Battar Ward No. 4 in Nuwakot, an affected woman waited at the ward office for relief materials. Around her, families were facing uncertainties of recovery: where they would stay, how they would rebuild and how they would continue caring for their children.
“There are relief materials now, but we have to think about the long-term rehabilitation of the affected people,” said Khum Raj Khadka, Ward Secretary of Battar Ward No. 4.
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For families, long-term recovery may mean rebuilding homes, restoring livelihoods and rebuilding the support systems that help them care for their children.
When families become vulnerable, children can face greater risks, including disruption to education, inadequate care or separation from those they know.
SOS Children’s Villages Nepal is therefore prioritising support that enables children to remain safely within their families and communities wherever this is in their best interests. Kinship care will be an important part of this approach. Where children have lost parental care or their parents are temporarily unable to provide adequate care, a safe and suitable relative can provide care while the family recovers. This helps children remain connected to people, places and communities they know.
In Belkotgadhi Municipality in Nuwakot, Mayor Jagat Bahadur Gurung has expressed his commitment to coordinate with SOS Children’s Villages Nepal to support affected children and families.
The principle is simple: when children can safely remain with their families or relatives, recovery should help make that possible.
Strengthening families for the road ahead
Keeping children with their families also means helping families recover.
SOS Children’s Villages Nepal’s long-term response will therefore extend beyond immediate relief to family strengthening, including health and nutrition, livelihoods, education and life skills, child protection and local ownership.
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The response will particularly prioritise single-women-led households, recognising the pressures some families face as they rebuild livelihoods while caring for children.
A parent rebuilding a livelihood needs time. A child returning to school needs books. A young child needs safe care while their parent works.
These needs may appear separate, but they are closely connected.
That is the goal of recovery: not simply helping families survive the disaster but helping them regain the stability they need to care for their children and move forward.
Beyond the relief trucks
Across Nuwakot and Rasuwa, relief vehicles continue to move along damaged roads carrying what families need now. But recovery will take longer.
It will mean roads becoming accessible again. Schools returning to their original purpose. Children receiving the books and materials they need. Parents rebuilding their livelihoods. Families becoming stable enough to care for their children without being pushed further into crisis. And it will mean ensuring that children are not left behind while the adults around them rebuild.
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Back inside the temporary holding centre in Nuwakot, the children keep drawing. For them, these activities offer something important: a small return to normality.
The hope is that when the roads reopen and schools return to being schools, these children will still have a classroom to return to. They will still have a family around them. And they will still have a community supporting their future.