“Good Job”: Head Teacher in Nepal Hailed a Hero After Evacuating 900 Kids From Deadly Floods

• Rajendra Dawadi, headteacher at Tribhuvan Trishuli Secondary School in Nuwakot, evacuated nearly 900 students before floodwaters hit
• Flash floods and mudslides tore through Nepal's Nuwakot and Dhading districts on 29 August 2026, leaving classrooms buried in thick mud
• Viewers online were divided over how long it took for the evacuation order to be given, sparking a heated debate

A school principal in Nepal is being called a hero after getting nearly 900 children out of harm's way before catastrophic floods destroyed the area around them. Rajendra Dawadi, headteacher of Tribhuvan Trishuli Secondary School in Nuwakot, ordered the full evacuation of his school on 29 August 2026 as flash floods and mudslides ripped through communities in Nepal's Nuwakot and Dhading districts.

The decision meant hundreds of children made it home safely before the worst of the disaster struck. Photographs shared on TikTok by @guardianaustralia captured the scale of the destruction left behind. Classrooms at Shree Bageshwori Madhyamik and Bageshwori Secondary School in Dhading's Galchi town were completely swallowed by mud. Desks, chairs and school bags lay half-buried under thick layers of sediment. Drone footage from Devighat showed entire neighbourhoods submerged, with residents picking their way through muddy roads.

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Nepal's deadly August floods

The flooding was part of a broader monsoon disaster that battered Nepal in late August 2026, with multiple districts reporting deaths, missing persons and widespread destruction of homes and infrastructure. Schools in the affected areas were among the hardest-hit buildings. The images struck a nerve globally, partly because of what was saved alongside the buildings that were lost. Thanks to principal Rajendra's call, not a single child at his school was caught in the floodwaters.

See the photos that captured the disaster and its aftermath in the TikTok slides below.

Viewers debate the timing of the evacuation

Not everyone online was ready to hand out praise without question. The post prompted a lively discussion, with several viewers zeroing in on the fact that it took four warnings before the evacuation was ordered. Whatever the debate around the timeline, the outcome spoke for itself. Close to 900 children walked away unharmed from a disaster that left their classrooms unrecognisable.

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@EMMA asked:

"He waited until a fourth warning?"

@bam offered some perspective:

"At least that's better than the other schools that still decided not to do anything after the fourth warning."

@EMMA pushed back:

"Absolutely, but I ain't going to cheer on this dude either; he's just lucky."

@A. added:

"Did you wish you were there instead so you could be the hero?"

@gnoor brought a cultural angle to the conversation:

"Really good job on the administrators; the culture for Asian/South Asian kids being out of school is so different. It's almost a moral failure because of how disciplined and important school is; glad."

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Source: Briefly News