Journal of Geography  & Natural Disasters
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Mahakali River Flood Impact on the Educational Performance of Students in Bhimdatt Municipality

Ramesh Prasad Joshi*

Nepal’s flood risk ranking is 30^th out of the 198 counties in the world. Flood is a most common disaster in Terai region of Nepal. The flood events have pushed rivers to overflow their banks submerging urban and rural land. The increase the flood intensity poses the threat to the infrastructure. The schools’ buildings and communities are always flooded with water in the rainy season which impacts the academic performance of the students. Mahakali River flood is big challenge for Bhimdatt municipality during the rainy season.

A mixed research design was used in the research. The data were collected through a questionnaire method. The structured questionnaires were distributed to the students, headmaster/principal, and teachers in the Bhimdatt municipality of Kanchanpur district. 210 students, 7 headmasters/principals, and 40 teachers have purposively selected schools from the 7 sampled schools in the municipality. Simple statistical tools and graphical tools were used for the analysis of field-collected data and maps were prepared through Arc GIS.

The research aims to find out the effects of the Mahakali River flood on the residence of students, school infrastructure, and overall impact on the academic performance of the students.

It was found that educational materials destroyed or damaged by floods, as well as the schools served as shelter for flood victims people, reduced the learning and teaching time of students had an effect on their academic performance. The research clearly showed that the Mahakali river flood directly impact the academic performance of students in the Bhimdatt municipality. The study showed that vulnerability to the impact of floods reduces the quality of education.

It is recommended that the government must take strong necessary action to control flooding. Disaster risk reduction technique should be integrated in the syllabus. Each year, disaster risk reduction training must be provided to principals, teachers and students.