Assam's Education Department is working to reopen more than 150 schools across Sivasagar, Nazira and Charaideo districts that remain submerged or flood-damaged, even as the majority of schools in the worst-hit areas have already resumed classes, Education Minister Ranoj Pegu said in an update on the state's post-flood school restoration effort.
Background
Assam's 2026 monsoon floods caused widespread damage across Upper Assam, with the death toll and affected population climbing through late July and August as successive waves of flooding hit districts including Sivasagar, Charaideo, and Nazira. State-wide relief figures put the affected population at well over 3 lakh people at various points during the crisis, with the government raising flood-death compensation to Rs 9 lakh and waiving mandatory post-mortems to speed up compensation disbursal for victims' families — measures that reflect the scale of the humanitarian response the floods demanded.
Sivasagar, Charaideo, and Nazira sit within Assam's Upper Assam belt, a region historically prone to flash flooding fed both by the Brahmaputra itself and by its tributary rivers descending from the hills of Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh, which can swell rapidly during heavy monsoon spells. Sivasagar in particular carries additional historical weight as the former capital of the Ahom kingdom, home to numerous protected heritage monuments alongside its modern residential and educational infrastructure, meaning flood damage in the district carries both a contemporary humanitarian dimension and, in years when heritage sites are affected, a cultural-preservation one as well, though this year's reported school-damage figures relate specifically to functioning educational institutions rather than heritage structures.
Schools were among the public infrastructure hit hardest. According to state government figures, roughly 80 percent of schools in the worst flood-affected areas were impacted in some way, whether through direct flood damage to buildings, use as temporary relief camps for displaced families, or loss of student and family belongings including books, uniforms, and study materials. Assam had originally planned to reopen schools statewide after the summer vacation on August 1, but flooding forced a staggered, district-by-district approach instead, with the worst-hit institutions requiring restoration work before they could safely reopen.
This is not the first year Assam's education calendar has been disrupted by monsoon flooding — the state's academic calendar has, in several recent years, had to build in contingency for flood-related closures given Assam's position on the Brahmaputra floodplain, where seasonal flooding is a near-annual feature rather than an unusual event. What has distinguished the 2026 flood season, according to state officials tracking the response, is both the scale of school-level disruption — 80 percent of institutions in the worst-hit belt — and the degree to which the state has tried to run a parallel, district-by-district restoration and relief tracking system in near real time, publishing specific reopening counts rather than broad statements about "most schools" being operational.
Key Details
The reopening effort has proceeded in stages, tracked closely by the state Education Department against each district's specific flood-damage profile.
- In Charaideo district, 739 of 741 schools have reopened, including 108 of 110 schools that had been specifically flood-affected — putting Charaideo close to full restoration.
- In Sivasagar district, 1,068 of 1,222 schools have reopened, including 401 of 555 flood-affected schools. That leaves 154 schools in Sivasagar alone still not reopened, due to a combination of waterlogging, accumulated mud, pending sanitisation work, submerged or muddy approach roads, or continued use of the school premises as relief camps for displaced flood victims.
- Statewide, more than 150 schools across the flood-affected districts remained either submerged or otherwise significantly impacted as of the Education Department's mid-August assessment, with restoration work ongoing to make campuses fit for reopening.
- Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma personally visited flood-affected areas in the Nazira, Mahmora, and Sonari assembly constituencies, including a stop at Jaya Primary School, where he interacted with affected students and distributed textbooks and uniforms directly.
- The state government arranged fresh textbooks for students in Sivasagar and Charaideo, with distribution beginning within days of the announcement specifically to minimise further disruption to learning.
- To address uniform losses, the government is releasing approximately Rs 8 crore from the Chief Minister's Relief Fund to the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan, targeting an estimated 1.5 lakh students expected to need replacement uniforms after losing belongings in the floods.
- Beyond school-level students, the state announced tiered financial assistance for older students to replace lost study materials: Rs 1,000 for Higher Secondary students, Rs 3,000 for undergraduate students (BA/BSc), and Rs 5,000 for postgraduate students.
The specificity of the district-level figures — down to the exact count of schools reopened versus still closed in each district, and the precise reasons cited for the remaining closures — reflects a more granular public reporting approach than Assam's education administration has typically used for disaster-response updates in past flood seasons, when official communication tended to describe recovery in broader percentage terms rather than school-by-school counts. Officials involved in the tracking effort have described the approach as intended to keep pressure on district administrations to close out the remaining restoration work item by item, rather than allowing a headline "most schools reopened" figure to obscure the specific, named schools still left out.
The distinction the figures draw between "total schools reopened" and "flood-affected schools reopened" in each district is also worth noting: Charaideo's 739 of 741 total schools reopened includes schools that were never flood-affected to begin with, alongside the 108 of 110 flood-affected schools specifically restored, meaning the district's overall reopening rate looks stronger than its flood-specific recovery rate alone would suggest, though in Charaideo's case both figures are close to complete. In Sivasagar, where the gap between total and flood-specific figures is wider, the distinction matters more for understanding exactly how much of the district's ongoing disruption is genuinely flood-driven, as opposed to reflecting other, unrelated causes of delayed reopening.
At a Glance
| District | Total schools reopened | Flood-affected schools reopened | Still closed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Charaideo | 739 of 741 | 108 of 110 | 2 |
| Sivasagar | 1,068 of 1,222 | 401 of 555 | 154 |
| Statewide flood-hit districts | — | — | 150+ schools still submerged/impacted |
| Relief measure | Amount / scale |
|---|---|
| Uniform replacement fund (CM Relief Fund → Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan) | ~Rs 8 crore, ~1.5 lakh students |
| Higher Secondary students — book replacement | Rs 1,000 per student |
| Undergraduate (BA/BSc) students — book replacement | Rs 3,000 per student |
| Postgraduate students — book replacement | Rs 5,000 per student |
Local Impact
For families in Sivasagar's 154 still-closed schools, the practical impact is straightforward and immediate: children in those catchment areas remain without a functioning local school, meaning either continued disruption to their education or the need for alternative teaching arrangements at relief camps or nearby functional schools, as the state Education Department has directed for such cases. For families whose children's schools have reopened but who lost uniforms, books, or other essential school supplies to floodwaters, the tiered financial assistance and direct distribution of textbooks represents the difference between a genuine return to normal schooling and a nominal reopening that many affected families still cannot fully use.
The economics of the relief effort also matter at the household level. For families in flood-hit rural pockets of Sivasagar and Charaideo, many of whom depend on agriculture or informal daily-wage work that floods themselves have already disrupted, the prospect of independently funding replacement uniforms, textbooks, and school supplies for multiple children on top of flood-related property damage and lost income would, without government assistance, represent a further, compounding financial burden layered on top of the immediate disaster. The Rs 8 crore uniform fund and tiered book-replacement payments are specifically designed to prevent that compounding effect from translating into children being kept out of school for financial reasons once the physical school building itself has reopened.
Local shopkeepers and small stationery and uniform suppliers in the affected districts are also likely to see a demand surge as the government's cash-assistance and direct-distribution programmes roll out, a secondary economic effect disaster-relief spending in education typically has on local retail businesses in and around reopening school catchment areas, even as those same businesses may themselves be recovering from flood-related disruption to their own premises and supply chains.
Health and hygiene considerations also factor into the reopening timeline in ways that go beyond the headline mud-and-sanitisation category of remaining closures. Schools that were submerged for extended periods typically require not just physical cleaning but water-quality checks, pest and mosquito-control measures given flood-linked disease risks, and structural safety assessments before education authorities are willing to certify a building fit for children to occupy for a full school day — a more thorough process than a simple visual clean-up, and one that explains why some of the 154 still-closed Sivasagar schools may take longer to clear than the raw mud-removal task alone would suggest.
The continued use of some school buildings as relief camps for displaced flood victims illustrates a recurring tension in disaster response: the same infrastructure communities rely on for both education and emergency shelter cannot serve both purposes simultaneously, meaning full school reopening in the worst-hit pockets is contingent on displaced families being able to return to their own homes or move to alternative shelter — a process that depends on floodwaters receding and, in many cases, on separate housing and infrastructure repair timelines that the Education Department does not directly control.
For older students — those in Higher Secondary, undergraduate, and postgraduate programmes — the tiered cash assistance for replacing books and study materials addresses a less visible but academically significant impact: lost course materials, notes, and reference books can set back exam preparation and coursework even for students whose institutions themselves suffered no direct flood damage, if the students' own homes were affected.
There is also a teacher and staffing dimension to the disruption that receives less public attention than student-facing relief measures. Teachers in the affected districts have, in past Assam flood seasons, had to manage classes with reduced attendance, damaged teaching materials, and in some cases their own displacement from flood-hit homes, all while being expected to help run makeshift classes at relief camps or alternative venues for students whose regular schools remain closed. The state's relief measures as publicly announced have focused primarily on students — textbooks, uniforms, cash assistance — with comparatively less detail available on parallel support specifically for teaching staff navigating the same disrupted conditions.
Learning-continuity concerns extend beyond the physical reopening date as well. Even once a school building itself reopens, students who missed several weeks of instruction during the flood disruption typically require some form of catch-up or remedial teaching to avoid falling permanently behind their academic cohort, particularly students in board-exam years facing HSLC (Class 10) or Higher Secondary (Class 12) assessments later in the academic session. Assam's Education Department has not detailed a specific remedial curriculum or extended-hours plan for flood-affected students in its public updates on the reopening effort so far, making it one of the more significant unresolved questions in the state's broader flood-education response, beyond the more visible metrics of physical school reopening counts.
What Happens Next
The Education Department's stated approach is to continue tracking each district's reopening progress against the specific damage profile of individual schools, prioritising sanitisation, mud clearance, and access-road repair for the remaining closed institutions in Sivasagar and other affected districts. The 154 schools still closed in Sivasagar alone represent the most concrete, trackable marker of how much restoration work remains, and further updates from Minister Pegu's office are likely as that number is worked down in the coming weeks.
Textbook and uniform distribution is expected to continue rolling out to the estimated 1.5 lakh affected students across the flood-hit districts, with the Rs 8 crore uniform fund and tiered book-replacement payments representing the state's primary financial mechanisms for ensuring flood damage does not translate into a lasting educational setback for the affected cohort. Given that a new academic session is already underway, the state's ability to complete this restoration and relief rollout before major exam cycles later in the year will be an important marker of whether the disruption becomes a lasting academic setback for affected students or a contained, catch-up-able interruption.
District administrations in Sivasagar in particular are expected to remain the focal point of the remaining restoration work, given that district alone accounts for the largest single block of still-closed schools among the districts with published figures. How quickly those 154 schools can be cleared of mud and sanitised, and how quickly displaced families currently sheltering in some of those buildings can be moved to alternative accommodation, will together determine whether Sivasagar's reopening timeline converges with Charaideo's already near-complete restoration or continues to lag behind it. Education Minister Pegu's office has indicated it will continue issuing periodic public updates on the reopening count, giving parents, district officials, and the public a running marker of progress rather than a single end-of-crisis announcement.
Longer term, the state's response to this flood season's education disruption is also likely to inform how Assam's academic calendar and disaster-contingency planning are structured in future years, given the recurring nature of monsoon flooding on the Brahmaputra floodplain. Whether the more granular, school-by-school public reporting approach used this year becomes a standing practice for future flood responses, rather than a one-off measure adopted under the pressure of this particular season's scale of disruption, is one of the less immediate but potentially more lasting outcomes of how this recovery effort unfolds.
Parents' associations and local civil society groups in the affected districts are also likely to continue playing a monitoring role of their own alongside the government's official tracking, as has been the pattern in past Assam flood seasons, where community reporting of school conditions has sometimes surfaced discrepancies between official reopening figures and ground-level reality — schools technically marked "reopened" but still lacking safe drinking water, functioning toilets, or fully repaired classrooms, for instance. Whether this year's more granular official reporting reduces that kind of gap between official figures and lived experience for affected families remains one of the practical tests the current restoration effort faces in the weeks ahead.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many schools in Assam were affected by the 2026 floods?
Roughly 80 percent of schools in the worst flood-affected areas of Upper Assam were impacted in some way, according to state government figures, whether through direct building damage, use as relief camps, or loss of student belongings.
Which districts are most affected and what is their school reopening status?
In Charaideo, 739 of 741 schools have reopened (108 of 110 flood-affected ones). In Sivasagar, 1,068 of 1,222 schools have reopened (401 of 555 flood-affected ones), leaving 154 schools in Sivasagar still closed. Statewide, more than 150 schools across flood-hit districts remain submerged or significantly impacted.
Why are some schools still closed weeks after the floods?
Remaining closures are due to waterlogging, accumulated mud, pending sanitisation, submerged or muddy approach roads, or continued use of the school premises as relief camps for displaced flood victims.
What relief is the government providing for affected students?
The government is distributing fresh textbooks, releasing about Rs 8 crore from the Chief Minister's Relief Fund for uniforms for an estimated 1.5 lakh students, and providing tiered cash assistance for book replacement: Rs 1,000 for Higher Secondary students, Rs 3,000 for undergraduates, and Rs 5,000 for postgraduate students.
Did the Chief Minister visit any flood-affected schools personally?
Yes, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma visited flood-hit areas in Nazira, Mahmora, and Sonari, including Jaya Primary School, where he interacted with students and personally distributed textbooks and uniforms.
What was the original school reopening date before the floods disrupted it?
Assam had planned a statewide reopening after summer vacation on August 1, 2026, but flooding forced a staggered, district-specific reopening approach instead.
Are schools currently being used for anything besides education in flood-hit areas?
Yes, some school buildings in the worst-affected areas are still being used as relief camps for displaced flood victims, which is one of the reasons a number of schools have not yet reopened for classes.
What broader flood relief measures has the Assam government announced?
Beyond education-specific relief, the state raised flood-death compensation to Rs 9 lakh, waived mandatory post-mortems to speed compensation disbursal, and provided Rs 15,000 in interim relief to affected families, reflecting the broader scale of the state's 2026 flood response.
Sources
The Assam Tribune, The Sentinel (Assam), Northeast Now (nenow.in), ANI, Assam Education Department public statements