HUMANITARIAN assistance by national and international organisations saved the educational future of many children affected by the floods this year.
A report by the Inter-national Union for Conser-vation of Nature revealed that many families were faced with difficult choices after the floods destroyed their farms and homes.
"Many families had to choose whether, for example, to send their kids to school or to meet their basic food requirements.
"Had it not been for the humanitarian assistance provided by many national and international organisations, it is likely that many children would have dropped out of schools this year," the report stated.
The cost of humanitarian assistance in the west, north and cane belt areas following this year's flood was estimated at $4.7m.
"This assistance was provided by many different domestic and international organisations in various forms, including disaster emergency boxes, food aid, school lunches, bus fares and medical kits," said the report.
$3.57m in-kind assistance was provided by development partners directly to humanitarian groups such as Red Cross and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).
In addition $2.01m was collected under the Prime Minister's Disaster Relief Fund.
For the western and northern divisions alone, assistance amounted to $3.67m.
"Many commercial houses also provided assistance either directly or indirectly through other relief agencies.
"The European Union and AusAID provided almost $2m in the form of school levy payments for children attending schools that were affected by floods, as well as towards repairs and rehabilitation of school buildings, library and furniture," the report said.