Nepal government has unveiled plans to establish a central educational fund, called a ‘Scholarship Bank’, to guarantee free education through Grade 12 for children displaced or orphaned by last month’s devastating flash floods.

The bank, set up under the education ministry’s ‘Secured Future Scholarship Scheme’, will pool contributions from government bodies, private educational organisations, charities, non-profit organisations and individuals into a central fund.

All contributions to the programme will be channelled through the bank, the ministry said. Detailed rules on eligibility and how the fund will operate will be issued later.

Under the scheme, the government will assess each child’s circumstances and provide support ranging from residential care and full scholarships to partial financial assistance and educational materials. The money will then be distributed according to each child’s needs, the ministry said.

Private schools have already pledged to contribute. Five organisations representing private-school operators—Higher Institutions of Secondary Schools’ Association Nepal (HISSAN), Private and Boarding Schools’ Organisation Nepal (PABSON), National Private and Boarding Schools’ Organisation Nepal, Association of Pre-school Educators, Nepal and Nepal Montessori Association—have committed to establishing a Rs1 billion ($6.62 million) scholarship fund for 1,000 students affected by the floods.

The organisations said the fund would be linked to the education ministry’s scholarship bank.

The government says children who have lost their parents or other guardians will be given priority, with support tailored to their individual circumstances.

“We are giving priority to children who have lost their guardians,” Minister for Education and Sports Sasmit Pokharel said. “We will identify what kind of support each child needs and provide the appropriate scholarship. We will stand by them.”

The ministry has so far identified 9,400 students in 32 schools in the flood-hit districts of Rasuwa, Nuwakot and Dhading as affected by the disaster. Of those, 3,928 were directly affected, and 1,373 have been displaced and are living in temporary holding centres.

An initial assessment found that 488 students remained unaccounted for and five had died. The figures do not include children who had not yet enrolled in school.

The ministry sent three teams to the affected districts to assess damage to schools and determine the impact on students.

The number of children who have lost one or both parents is expected to rise as authorities establish the identities of those who died or remain missing. The floods also affected people from outside the three districts, making it difficult to determine how many children have been left without parents or guardians.

Ministry spokesperson and joint secretary Shree Prasad Bhattarai said the government would identify such children and ensure they could continue their education through Grade 12.

“Some children who have lost their guardians may need to live in children’s homes while continuing their education. Others may need residential facilities,” Bhattarai said. “The needs of children who have lost both parents are different from those who have lost one. We will assess those needs and provide whatever support is required to ensure they can continue learning through Grade 12.”

The scholarship bank is intended to become a longer-term mechanism rather than a one-off response to the Bhotekoshi disaster. The ministry said it would eventually support children affected by floods, landslides and other disasters.

It also plans to extend the programme to children who lose parents in accidents or whose parents die while working abroad.

“Various organisations and individuals have come forward saying they want to take care of children who have been left without guardians and educate them,” Bhattarai said. “We will bring all those contributions into a single pool and distribute them according to the children’s needs.”

The ministry is now determining how many children require residential care, placement in children’s homes, full or partial scholarships or educational materials. It is also assessing how many want to remain in schools in the affected districts and how many would prefer to continue their education elsewhere, including Kathmandu.

Schools face heavy damage

The education ministry’s assessment found that all 32 schools surveyed in Rasuwa, Nuwakot and Dhading had suffered some level of damage.

Of 527 classrooms assessed, 268 were destroyed. Twenty-four teachers remain unaccounted for, and one teacher has been found dead.

Six schools also suffered destruction of their land and premises, prompting the ministry to recommend temporary learning centres while decisions are made on reconstruction or relocation.

The ministry said its assessment would form the basis of a broader reconstruction plan, including decisions on which schools should be rebuilt, relocated or merged and where temporary learning centres are needed.

The scale of the wider disaster underscores the difficulty of identifying all the children who may need support.

According to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, 5,132 people remained unaccounted for as of Wednesday, while 1,367 bodies had been recovered since the floods. Of those recorded as unaccounted for, 587 are foreign nationals.

Rasuwa accounted for 2,860 missing people, including 1,393 residents of the district. In Nuwakot, 1,787 people were reported missing, including 651 residents and 1,136 people from other districts.

The education ministry said it would use information on those remaining unaccounted for to determine how many children had been left without parents or guardians before distributing scholarships.

Bagmati province, which includes the three worst-affected districts, has separately decided to take responsibility for educating children who lost their parents in the disaster.

A provincial cabinet meeting on September 3 decided that children who had lost guardians in the floods and whose education had been disrupted, as well as children left without guardians, would receive free accommodation and schooling through Grade 12.

The five organisations said their Rs1 billion fund would be incorporated into the education ministry’s scholarship bank and used to support 1,000 students affected by the floods.

“We can provide different types of scholarships, including residential support, to 1,000 children affected by the floods,” said Yuvraj Sharma, president of HISSAN.

PABSON president Krishna Prasad Adhikari confirmed that the five organisations had agreed to establish the Rs1 billion fund.

The ministry said it would use its school-damage assessment to prepare an integrated reconstruction plan, including temporary learning centres and decisions on schools that need to be relocated or consolidated.