Learning Through the Landslides

Every morning, Indhumathi leaves her home in Badulla town with one goal in mind: to reach her students.

Before Cyclone Ditwah swept through Sri Lanka’s hill-country, the journey was straightforward. Buses ran on schedule, and the narrow road to work at a local primary school was reliable.

Today, much of that road is gone. Floodwaters and landslides washed away key sections, leaving parts of the route impassable. While main roads have been cleared, many internal plantation roads remain damaged, making it impossible for public transport to access remote areas.

Yet, Indumathi makes the journey anyway.

With schools instructed to reopen, she now travels by three-wheeler, an expense she can scarcely afford but one she accepts without hesitation.

“There is no other way,” she says. “My students are waiting.”

More than 35 children who live beyond a collapsed bridge near the school face similar obstacles. With vehicles unable to pass, they walk over rocks and unstable terrain each day just to reach their classrooms.

Ganieskar, a Grade 11 student, is facing severe challenges in continuing his education. After the landslide, the school was declared a red zone, and students were relocated to the estate manager’s house to continue their studies. However, the space is not sufficient to accommodate everyone, and many textbooks were lost in the landslide, leaving nearly half the students without proper learning materials.

Several of Ganishkar’s friends have stopped attending school altogether due to economic hardships and the long distance they must travel. With no transport available, some students walk nearly six kilometers to reach their classrooms, making regular attendance difficult. 

As Ganishkar and his classmates prepare for their Ordinary Level examinations — one of the most important milestones in their education — disruptions like these pose serious risks to their long-term learning.

Many schools reflect the dual reality of recovery. By day, they are a place of lessons and routine. By night, they serve as temporary shelters for families displaced by landslides. Each day, their belongings are packed away so classes can resume. For elderly people in particular, this daily relocation is exhausting. Yet, families continue to endure, while waiting for safety assessments that will allow them to return home.

Cyclone Ditwah left deep scars across Badulla District, affecting more than 90,000 people and causing extensive damage to housing, infrastructure, and livelihoods. The disaster also exposed longstanding vulnerabilities in plantation communities, including the Malaiyaha Tamil community. Many families live on estate land without formal ownership or documentation, making it more difficult to access compensation, housing support and other recovery assistance.

For daily wage earners, the impact was immediate. Many rely on plantation or informal labour, earning only when work is available. When roads were cut off and estates temporarily closed, incomes stopped overnight. Women — who make up a significant share of the plantation workforce and informal sector — were particularly affected, as lost wages quickly translated into food insecurity and mounting debt.

In response to the widespread devastation caused by Cyclone Ditwah, the United Nations and its humanitarian partners launched a Humanitarian Priorities Plan to assist the most vulnerable communities affected by the disaster.

The plan prioritizes urgent, life-saving support toward shelter, agriculture and livelihood support, food security and nutrition, healthcare, education, clean water, sanitation and hygiene, and protection services, while also supporting early recovery efforts to help families rebuild their lives.

As part of the response, the United Nations, through UNICEF and partners, has supported the recovery of education and essential services for children by providing learning supplies, establishing temporary learning spaces and rehabilitating damaged school facilities. Schools have also received support to restore safe water access, sanitation facilities and nutrition services. As a result, more than 130,000 children have been able to resume their learning in healthier environments. 

However, recovery cannot focus on infrastructure alone. Long-term resilience will require addressing structural gaps, durable housing solutions, improved access to public services, stronger social protection systems, and expanded livelihood opportunities for young people seeking alternatives beyond plantation labour. Without these shifts, disasters risk reinforcing cycles of vulnerability.

For Indhumathi, the recovery from Cyclone Ditwah is measured in small victories: in students arriving safely, in lessons completed, and the return of smiles and laughter in the classroom. Each day, she makes the same costly journey, driven by the conviction that education cannot pause, even in crisis. 

“Indumathi” is a pseudonym used to protect the identity of the individual.