"At least 18,000 schools have been damaged or destroyed by South Asia’s worst flooding in years, which is putting children’s education and long-term well-being at risk, warns Save the Children. Thousands more schools have been used as evacuation centres and about 1.8 million children cannot go to class as flooding continues to ravage large swathes of Bangladesh, Nepal and India’s northeast. The regional death toll now stands at over 1,200 with more than 40 million people affected," the statement said.
According to Save the Children, over 12,000 schools had been damaged in India, 2,000 in Nepal and 4,000 more in Bangladesh.
The charity added that the crisis could result in a situation whereby hundreds of thousands of children would "fall permanently out of the school system" and called for prioritizing education in relief efforts.
Heavy rains hit the north of India, Nepal and Bangladesh this month. The disaster has already claimed lives of hundreds of people and prompted evacuation of thousands.
