‘Protecting Childhood’, the future of thousands of children in the grip of floods is uncertain<\/strong><\/p>\n Children’s Day: Serious challenge to the protection of children and protection of children<\/strong><\/p>\n Manisha Basnet, Nepal News Bank <\/strong><\/p>\n Kathmandu. While celebrating this year’s National Children’s Day with the catchy slogan ‘Protecting Childhood: Protecting the Future’, the reality of the land is exactly the opposite and heartbreaking. Although the slogan of the day advocates the protection of childhood and the guarantee of the future, the devastating floods and landslides in Rasuwa, Nuwakot and other areas have swept away both the present and future of thousands of children. On the one hand, there is talk of children’s rights at the state level, on the other hand, hundreds of children have become parents and homeless due to disasters. Deprived of their basic rights, safe shelter, education, health and nutrition, children are now forced to spend difficult days in tents and temporary centers. <\/p>\n The safe childhood envisioned by the slogan <\/p>\n has been badly shattered by the terrible effects of the floods. Many children have died at a young age, while some are seriously injured and in mental trauma. Their education has become precarious as the floods have washed away their homes as well as schools. Children living displaced lives are now exposed to more serious social risks such as trafficking, child labour, violence and child marriage. As the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution to live, develop and have family protection are lost in the floods, there is a deep gap between the slogan of the day and the real condition of the children who are suffering. <\/p>\n The government data itself is a testimony to this disturbing paradox. According to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, 1,267 houses have been completely damaged and 1,253 houses have been partially damaged due to the floods. 3,930 people are living in 30 temporary shelters, a large number of them children.<\/p>\n There are 2,653 children living in 19 centres in Nuwakot and 1,277 in 11 centres in Rasuwa. Similarly, according to the Ministry of Education, 9,400 children from 32 schools in Rasuwa, Nuwakot and Dhading have been directly or indirectly affected while 1,373 children are in holding centres. The fact that 488 students are still incommunicado and five deaths has put a big question mark on the slogan of safe childhood. <\/p>\n The situation is so critical that according to UNICEF, about 22,000 children in flood-affected areas are now deprived of even basic necessities such as safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene. The destruction of water supply systems and toilets has increased the fear of an epidemic of water-borne and infectious diseases in the holding centers.<\/p>\n As Alice Akunga, UNICEF Nepal Representative, mentioned, parents are struggling every day to provide safe water to their children. In such a situation, even though UNICEF has tried to provide relief by sending materials and awareness, it has not been enough to save the lives of children. <\/p>\n Pointing out this situation, the National Campaign for Children as a Zone of Peace (CZOP) has demanded all the three tiers of government of the state to implement the slogan of the day not limited to speeches. CZOP stressed the need for an effective child protection system for the immediate rescue, protection and rehabilitation of children at risk. <\/p>\n Meanwhile, the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Security has said that it has started arrangements for shelter, health and psychosocial support through the temporary protection center at Thecho in Lalitpur to pay tribute to the children who lost their lives in the Bhotekoshi floods.<\/p>\n Issuing a press release today, Minister Sita Badi stated that the long-term care plan of the children affected by the floods and those in need of special protection has been implemented and the state has committed to take guardianship of the children. <\/p>\n As Genji activist Raksha Bam said, the first foundation of a country’s development is investment in children, which should start from the mother’s womb. But today, children who are in the grip of disaster are struggling for basic food, shelter and cotton. Until these innocent children in distress are provided with safe housing, education and psychosocial security, the slogan ‘Protecting Childhood: Safeguarding the Future’ seems to be limited to just one official day of the calendar and publicity. <\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ‘Protecting Childhood’, the future of thousands of children in the grip of floods is uncertain Children’s Day: Serious challenge to the protection of children and protection of children Manisha Basnet, Nepal News Bank Kathmandu. While celebrating this year’s National Children’s Day with the catchy slogan ‘Protecting Childhood: Protecting the Future’, the reality of the landContinue reading “‘Protecting childhood’ limited to paper slogans, the future of thousands of children in the grip of floods uncertain”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":102290,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[147],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-samachar-en"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/web-post_ec923bfc.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102300"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":102301,"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102300\/revisions\/102301"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/media\/102290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arthakhabar.com\/ak_api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}