Extreme climate brought on vital disruptions to schooling worldwide in 2024, with round 242 million college students in 85 international locations lacking classes as a result of heatwaves, storms, floods and droughts, UNICEF mentioned Thursday.
UNICEF’s evaluation highlighted the impression of “extreme climate events” on faculty closures and operational disruptions, figuring out heatwaves as probably the most extreme risk to schooling.
“Last year, severe weather kept one in seven students out of class, threatening their health and safety and impacting their long-term education,” mentioned UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell.
Countries most affected by climate-related faculty interruptions included Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Mozambique, Pakistan and the Philippines.
According to the evaluation, 74% of affected college students lived in low- and lower-middle-income international locations, though no area was spared from the impression of utmost local weather occasions.
South Asia was the hardest-hit area, with 128 million college students affected. In East Asia and the Pacific area, 50 million college students confronted disruptions, whereas Africa endured devastating penalties linked to the El Niño local weather phenomenon, together with floods in East Africa and extreme droughts in components of southern Africa.
In Europe, torrential rains and floods disrupted classes for over 900,000 college students in Italy in September, whereas October floods affected 13,000 kids and youngsters in Spain, based on UNICEF.
“Education is one of the services most frequently disrupted due to climate hazards. Yet it is often overlooked in policy discussions, despite its role in preparing children for climate adaptation,” Russell mentioned.
“Children’s futures must be at the forefront of all climate-related plans and actions.”
Source: www.dailysabah.com