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.
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. 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.
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..
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