{"id":875550,"date":"2026-08-31T23:36:27","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T23:36:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/875550\/"},"modified":"2026-08-31T23:36:27","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T23:36:27","slug":"nepali-teacher-saved-hundreds-of-students-from-flood-minutes-before-it-arrived","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/875550\/","title":{"rendered":"Nepali teacher saved hundreds of students from flood, minutes before it arrived"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hundreds of Nepali schoolchildren were saved by their teacher shortly before the school was inundated in last week’s devastating floods.<\/p>\n

A Trishuli local, Surinder, said the floods “swept away the entire building”.<\/p>\n

“Here used to be a three-storey school building in front of a temple and there was a market nearby,” Surinder said.<\/p>\n

“When floods hit this area, the teacher evacuated all the students and saved their lives.”<\/p>\n

Nepal flash floods updates<\/a>: Follow this story as it unfolds with our live blog.<\/p>\n

Surinder said Rajendra Dawadi, who is head teacher at Tribhuvan Trishuli Secondary School in Nuwakot, saved the lives of about 1,600 students.<\/p>\n

\"buildings<\/p>\n

Houses sit partially submerged in Trishuli, in the Nuwakot district, where the Tribhuvan Trishuli Secondary School is located. (Reuters: Adnan Abidi)<\/p>\n

Mr Dawadi told the BBC he received calls warning of the incoming disaster.<\/p>\n

“If we didn’t make a quick decision, if it were 10 minutes later, we all, including the students and me, wouldn’t be able to speak to you today,” he told the BBC.<\/p>\n

“A parent came and told me that ‘a big flood was coming, I am here to take my daughter, I will take her’.<\/p>\n

Loading…<\/p>\n

“Parents don’t rush without a strong reason, so it was confirmed that I shouldn’t waste a second to evacuate the children.<\/p>\n

“I decided I shouldn’t delay any more. Even if the flood was not coming, it was just a matter of a single day’s classes.<\/p>\n

“I feel proud that we saved so many lives.”\"a<\/p>\n

Mud covers a classroom at the Shree Bagheswori Madhyamik School, damaged in flash flooding. (AP: Niranjan Shrestha)<\/p>\n

Saved by a lunch break<\/p>\n

In one of the areas worst hit by the floods, at another school, a group of schoolchildren survived when they left their classroom for lunch.<\/p>\n

Children attending other classes at the Shree Bagheswori Madhyamik School in Galchhi also escaped because teachers told them to quickly evacuate their classrooms shortly before the waters came crashing in.<\/p>\n

“The teachers said, ‘There is a flood, and you should leave bags and tiffins [lunch boxes]’,” Lakshmi Shrestha, the mother of a student attending the school, said.<\/p>\n

“That’s how they managed to survive.”<\/p>\n

Shrestha was among the mothers and children who began returning to their school on Sunday to find the kids’ belongings and see what could be salvaged.<\/p>\n

The majority of the children at the school appeared to have survived the floods, the families said.<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

A mother searches for her child’s bag from a pile extracted from the mud. (AP: Niranjan Shrestha)<\/p>\n

Thick brown and grey mud coated the surfaces of school benches, walls and notebooks, while the school’s courtyard was filled with sediment.<\/p>\n

Lines on the walls showed how quickly the water rose.<\/p>\n

A pile of small mud-caked backpacks, some with colourful key chains, were on the benches and floors, waiting to be claimed.<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

A student smiles after locating her bag. (AP: Niranjan Shrestha)<\/p>\n

Kopila Mizar, a student’s mother, couldn’t find her son’s backpack but remained positive.<\/p>\n

“My son is alive; that is my biggest happiness,” she said.<\/p>\n

At least 69 schools in Nepal’s flood-devastated districts have been destroyed or damaged, putting education at risk for nearly 19,000 children, according to the non-profit Save the Children.<\/p>\n

Those numbers are likely to rise as rescue teams reach more areas, they said.<\/p>\n

\"tiffin<\/p>\n

Students’ lunch boxes covered in mud. (AP: Niranjan Shrestha)<\/p>\n

The government ordered schools and universities to shut down for three days following torrential rains that triggered severe flash floods and landslides across parts of the country.<\/p>\n

University exams were also paused.<\/p>\n

With communities still receiving constant flood warnings advising them to move to higher, safer areas, it’s unclear when classes can resume.<\/p>\n

More on the Nepal-Tibet floods<\/p>\n

The disaster has killed more than 900 people, and more than 3,900 people are unaccounted for in Nepal, according to the latest figures released by the Nepal police.<\/p>\n

Chinese authorities said 16 people were killed in Gyirong County, Tibet, and 546 are missing.<\/p>\n

AP\/Reuters<\/p>\n

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