In a major initiative to protect disaster-affected youth, the Bagmati Province government has introduced a comprehensive residential education program for children who lost their parents in the devastating Bhotekoshi floods and other recent disasters across the region.
Comprehensive Support Up to Grade 12
According to Saral Sahayatri Paudel, the Bagmati Province Minister for Economic Affairs and Planning, the ministry has formally approved the operational guidelines and offered recommendations for executing the scheme. The program guarantees completely free education up to Grade 12 alongside safe housing facilities for orphaned flood victims.
Minister Paudel emphasized that the procedures are being refined to reflect the actual circumstances of the affected children, ensuring that the government response remains practical and responsive to their real-world needs.
Broader Reach and Holistic Care
This initiative fulfills an earlier cabinet ruling where the provincial government agreed to assume full responsibility for the protection, schooling, and living arrangements of children left without parents in Rasuwa, Nuwakot, Dhading, and Chitwan.
Beyond basic school enrollment, the residential framework provides holistic care, including room and board, nutritional meals, healthcare services, security, psychosocial counseling, and continuous long-term care. The government is actively gathering information on eligible children and evaluating flood-impacted homes and academic facilities to deliver target support.
To formalize the initiative, the province's Education Development Directorate has officially released the operational guidelines titled "Residential Program Management Procedure for Community Schools, 2083."
