Whatever happened to the floating schools of Bangladesh?

Hosne Ara teaches a group of fourth graders, seated on benches inside the floating school's classroom. Ali Asif Shawon for NPR hide caption

In September 2018, we posted a story from flood-prone Bangladesh, 'Floating Schools' Make Sure Kids Get To Class When The Water Rises . Did the floating schools actually work, and what happened to the children who attended them? This story is part of our annual series, Whatever happened to …

We're revisiting some of our past global health and development stories to see "Whatever happened to ..."

Eight years ago, NPR correspondent Jason Beaubien visited a riverside village in the northwest of Bangladesh and found a small beige boat tied up in tall grass beside the Atrai River.

Goats and Soda

'Floating Schools' Make Sure Kids Get To Class When The Water Rises

The boat was packed with narrow benches, which in turn were jammed with children. About 29 third-grade students sat shoulder to shoulder in front of a blackboard on this very first floating school of Bangladesh, which started its journey 24 years ago.

The floating schools were a response to a longstanding local problem of seasonal floods and impassable, muddy roads that kept children from reaching conventional schools. Now, as we come back in 2026, climate-related disruptions are affecting schooling on a much larger scale, and that practical local solution has become more necessary and more relevant beyond Bangladesh.

Students head home after class ends at the floating school. Ali Asif Shawon for NPR hide caption

The schools were designed for one flood-prone region, but they now offer a model for how communities can preserve essential services as the environment changes. International recognition highlights the project's growing relevance.

Poetry on board

On a visit to one of the boat schools this summer, 27 students sat on benches and recited Bangla poetry with their teacher.

"This school picks me up from my house in the morning and, after class, drops me off beside my house," says Mahiya Khatun, a 12-year-old fourth grader. "Other schools are not too close; it is tough to reach there during the rainy season because of floods and mud. The teacher teaches us with care in this school, and I love to learn the rhymes."

Then she recites a Bangla rhyme written by the famous poet and author Farrukh Ahmad.

Another fourth grader, Himel Hasan, says he doesn't like the government-run primary school because it is too far from his house, so he loves coming to the boat school.

"I have five friends here in this class, and we enjoyed learning together," says Himel.

Mosammat Hosne Ara Khatun has been teaching in the boat school for the last 10 years.

"My house is near this school. Like me, most of the students are from nearby villages.. I enjoyed this job because the workplace is easy to commute to, and I think I am doing a noble job teaching underprivileged students," says Hosne Ara.

Suman Mia, who drives the boat, says "I didn't get the chance to study in my childhood, and now I am earning my livelihood by operating this engine boat. I dream that someday my son and daughter will be educated in those boat schools, and they will do a good job after growing up."

Student success stories

Rabbi Hossain started his schooling at the floating school, studying there from 2005 to 2010.

After completing grade five, Rabbi later went to a local high school and college. He now studies engineering at Dhaka University of Engineering & Technology, located in Gazipur.

"My life started from the boat school. I want to be an engineer after completing my studies," says Rabbi, whose father is a farmer and mother is a school teacher.

He credits the boat school for an important step in his schooling: "Just imagine, in 2005 we got the opportunity to learn computers."

Rabbi has many schoolmates who are in established positions after starting their education at the boat school.

Nahid Hossain, a classmate, received his education at the same floating school and is now a soldier in the Bangladesh Army.

For him, the boat school was more than just an educational institution.

"Boat school was an emotional place for me. I learned my basic education from that floating school," says Nahid. Without the floating school, he says, he would never have moved ahead in life.

To collect students, the boat school goes from one ghat — one docking place — to another, enabling children in difficult-to-reach areas to attend classes.

Even when there are storms and heavy rain, he says, classes generally went on.

"Flooding was a serious issue for conventional schools in that area because roads and communication lines would become unusable and muddy, school grounds might be flooded, and students' education would be disrupted. In contrast, the floating school could keep going and reach the children where they were," says Nahid.

Another successful student is Surovi Khatun, an undergrad student currently studying at Nawab Siraj-Ud-Dowla Government College of Natore, a neighboring district of Pabna.

Surovi was raised in a small village named Bolighati in Singra Upazila, Natore, and started her first schooling at a floating school.

She studied at the boat school at the primary level from 2012 to 2016; later, she was admitted to a local high school and college, and is now working toward a degree in English.

"The foundation that I achieved from the boat school advanced me in the English language, as teachers were so caring about teaching a second language in our early schooling days," she says.

She wishes the floating schools would go beyond grade 5.

"The education was free at boat schools. In addition, they provided us with textbooks, notebooks and even a pen. But after completing primary level, it required coaching tuition fees, school fees and educational material fees at the higher secondary level, which parents often cannot bear, and they sent their female children to marry at an early age."

Apart from formal education, the boat schools also taught tailoring skills to Surovi and her mother, and now the mother and daughter can make their own clothes and sometimes make clothes for neighbors to earn extra income.

Plans for the future

The floating boat school initiatives are run by Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha , a local nonprofit group.

The initiative received the UNESCO Confucius Literacy Prize 2025, in recognition of its efforts to deliver education to children in the flood-prone Chalan Beel wetlands.

"Bangladesh has had a remarkable journey from the lowest literacy rate globally in 1971 at only 17.6% to around 76% in 2026. The work of groups like Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha have made this possible," says Susan Vize, UNESCO representative to Bangladesh. "Their outreach to women and rural communities, the remaining pockets where literacy is lowest, is striving to ensure this journey continues."

Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha hopes to reach additional parts of the country with floating schools.

The founder of the group, Mohammed Rezwan, is designing a larger boat that could serve as a floating community hub, hosting classes as well as health care and other services and also serving as a shelter for up to 150 people during flood seasons.

He also hopes to build a global network of people working with this floating school model. Other flood-prone countries, including Cambodia, Vietnam, India, Malaysia, the Philippines and Brazil, have started similar floating school programs.

Ali Asif Shawon is the chief reporter at Dhaka Tribune in Bangladesh, where he covers politics, security, climate change, migration and global health. He can be reached on LinkedIn.

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