
The United Nations Children’s Fund reported that extreme weather disrupted the schooling of about 242 million children in 85 countries last year, deploring what it said was an ‘overlooked’ aspect of the climate crisis.
Heat waves had the biggest impact, the report showed, as UNICEF executive director Catherine Russel warned children are more vulnerable to extreme weather. “They heat up faster, they sweat less efficiently, and cool down more slowly than adults,” she said.
“Children cannot concentrate in classrooms that offer no respite from sweltering heat, and they cannot get to school if the path is flooded, or if schools are washed away.”
Human activity, including the unrestricted burning of fossil fuel over decades, has warmed the planet and changed weather patterns, leaving wet periods wetter and the dry periods dryer, intensifying heat and storms and making populations more vulnerable to disasters.
The UNICEF report said that the 242 million figure is a conservative estimate, citing gaps in the data, which showed that students from kindergarten to high school saw classes suspended, vacations moved, reopenings delayed, timetables shifted, and even schools damaged or destroyed over the year due to climatic shocks.
In the Philippines, thousands of non-air conditioned schools were closed in April, when temperatures soared, putting children at risk of hyperthermia.
When the seasons changed, many classes were suspended by storms and flooding, and in some cases just the anticipation of poor weather.
South Asia was the region hardest hit by climate-related school interruptions, with 128 million children affected.
The figures are likely to rise in coming years as temperatures continue going up, with half the world’s children, around 1 billion, living in countries at high risk of climate and environmental shocks.
If the emission of greenhouse gases continues its current trajectory, 8 times as many children will be exposed to heat waves in 2050 compared to 2000. More than 3 times as many would be exposed to extreme floods and 1.7 times more to wildfires, UNICEF projections showed.
As education is one of the services most frequently disrupted by climate hazards, UNICEF called for investment in classrooms that are more resistant.
The Philippines is no stranger when it comes to climate hazards. Our school children are well versed with the effects of extreme heat and heavy rains on their schooling. The time lost to such hazards this past year alone is proof of what our learners and the government has to deal with. If we cannot do anything much about stopping the progression of climate change, then our classrooms, educations, as well as the transport systems of our towns and cities will need to be more climate-resistant.
Is our government actually doing anything about it?*