Nearly 200 children from Neelakantha Secondary School in Bogatitar, Ward No. 5 of Uttargaya Rural Municipality in Rasuwa, are feared missing after the devastating flood on August 26.
Speaking to Setopati, the school’s principal, Madhav Lamichhane, said that a school bus that had gone to pick up students was caught in the flood.
“The school bus had dropped off one group of students and had gone back to pick up another group. The students it had gone to collect were from Grade 5 and below,” he said. “Some children may have been waiting for the bus, while others may have been on their way. We fear that we may have lost all of those students.”
According to him, even children who did not attend school and remained at home may not have survived, as the flood swept away the entire Khalte settlement, which had more than 300 houses. He said that some children may be traced only if they happened to be visiting their relatives.
The settlement had been established for people affected by the earthquake. It has not yet been possible to determine how many people were living in the houses or how many are missing. Lamichhane said that the number of people from the settlement sheltered at the holding center was also negligible.
The school building itself was spared by the flood, and students who arrived during the first phase survived. Lamichhane said that the school has around 500 students, but he sees little possibility of nearly 200 of them returning.
Uttargaya Rural Municipality has formed five clusters to collect data on those affected by the flood. However, Lamichhane said that it has been extremely difficult to compile information on the missing there as well.
“There are other schools in our surrounding area as well. I have received information that around 150 students from those schools are also missing,” he said. “It is difficult to say how possible it will be to find those who are missing. Even collecting accurate data is now difficult because entire settlements have been swept away.”
Four teachers and staff members of Neelakantha Secondary School are also missing. According to Lamichhane, they are English teacher Narayan Bahadur Thapa, computer teacher Ajay Kumar Yadav, school nurse Mamata Shrestha, and pre-primary teacher Manmaya Tamang.
