Nepal Principal Evacuated 900 Students Before Floodwaters Swept Away Their School

Rajendra Dawadi had only minutes to decide whether to empty his school. Floodwaters were racing through Nepal’s Trishuli Valley, and warnings were still unconfirmed when he rang the bell and ordered students and staff toward higher ground.

“

I immediately decided to stop school.

At least 900 students were on the campus of Tribhuvan Trishuli Secondary School that morning. Dawadi also called bus drivers and told them not to come. One bus had already arrived, packed with students, when he instructed its driver to turn back. The bus crossed a newly built bridge, and the older bridge beside it collapsed moments later.

Dawadi followed the students to a nearby hill. From there, he watched the school where he had once studied and later taught disappear under water, mud, boulders and debris. Two staff members could not escape and remain missing.

“

I have no words. I got education from that school. And I gave education at that school.

The floods followed a glacial collapse in the Himalayas and killed more than 900 people across Nepal and China. More than 4,700 people remain missing. The disaster also destroyed schools across northern Nepal, leaving thousands of children without classrooms. Save the Children said 69 schools had been completely destroyed, putting nearly 19,000 students’ education at risk.

“

Their parents hugged me, they cried with me. They were emotional.

When Dawadi returned to the school site days later, parents embraced him and cried as they thanked him. Fourteen-year-old student Suvina Tamang said the building was swept away shortly after the evacuation and that she would thank him for saving her life. Dawadi, whose school had been a major part of his life, said, “I have no words. I got education from that school. And I gave education at that school.”

“

I will thank him when I see him.