Schools serve as a hub for children to learn and involve in disaster mitigation activities and to connect with the community. The government of Pakistan has initiated different capacity building and safety training programs to increase the preparedness level among school children. However, the effectiveness of such capacity building training programs in disaster-prone areas is yet to be evaluated. In this perspective, this study examines the school children's perceptions, knowledge, and preparedness of flood disaster risk management in Pakistan. The analysis is based on a primary survey covering 20 primary schools across four severely flood-affected districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. By using a structured questionnaire, we collected data from 100 students of grade-5. Pearson’s Chi-square test is used to determine the statistical significance of the differences in preparedness across districts. The findings show that, concerning perceptions, overall 40% of the total sample children believe that the flood disaster would destroy the houses of residents (including theirs), 39% said that it would damage the large buildings and 31% reported that persons near the river source are facing a higher risk. Regarding flood disaster risk-related knowledge, 68% of respondents experienced flood disasters between 2010 and 2014, and houses were flooded and damaged by 65% and 46% of the respondents, respectively. The findings further indicated that preparedness level is generally low in the study districts as 12% have a family emergency plan, however, only 5% practice emergency plans at the household level. In addition, only 18% of the schools show emergency exit, assembly areas, and places to meet or leave important messages in an emergency. Moreover, the study found that awareness and training programs are needed at the school level to increase knowledge and preparedness for future floods.

学校是儿童学习和参与减灾活动以及与社区联系的枢纽。巴基斯坦政府已启动了各种能力建设和安全培训计划，以提高学童的备灾水平。但是，这种能力建设培训计划在易受灾地区的有效性尚待评估。从这个角度出发，本研究考察了学童对巴基斯坦洪水灾害风险管理的看法，知识和准备情况。该分析是根据一项主要调查得出的，该调查涵盖了巴基斯坦开伯尔-普赫图赫瓦省四个受严重洪灾影响的地区的20所小学。通过使用结构化问卷，我们收集了100位5年级学生的数据。皮尔逊卡方检验用于确定各地区备灾差异的统计显着性。调查结果表明，就观念而言，总体样本儿童中有40％认为洪水灾害会摧毁居民（包括他们的房屋）的房屋，39％表示会破坏大型建筑物，而31％的居民表示附近有居民。河源面临更高的风险。关于洪水灾害风险相关知识，2010年至2014年间，有68％的被调查者遭受了洪水灾害，房屋被洪水和破坏的人数分别为65％和46％。调查结果进一步表明，研究区的备灾水平普遍较低，因为12％的家庭有家庭应急计划，但是只有5％的家庭有家庭应急计划。此外，只有18％的学校显示紧急出口，集会区域以及在紧急情况下会面或留下重要信息的地方。此外，研究发现，在学校一级需要提高认识和培训计划，以增加对未来洪水的知识和准备。