Climate shocks emptied South Asia's schools

Half of the quarter-billion students who faced academic interruptions were in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan

KARACHI:

In South Asia, the climate crisis has made monsoons fiercer, heatwaves more severe, and floods more relentless —transforming nature's wrath from a distant threat into an immediate reality that reshapes landscapes, disrupts lives, and deepens vulnerabilities across a wide range of human concerns, including education.

According to a recent analysis from UNICEF, in 2024, nearly half of the quarter-billion students across 85 countries who faced climate-induced disruptions to their schooling were from this region, which now bears the brunt of worsening environmental shocks.

The impact on education, as documented by the UN agency, was staggering, with India topping the list at 54.78 million children facing academic interruptions, followed by 35.38 million in Bangladesh, 26.23 million in Pakistan, and 10.91 million in Afghanistan. The region's fragile education systems crumbled under the weight of intensifying heatwaves, which became the single largest driver of school closures worldwide.

In total, climate events affected an estimated 242 million students globally, from pre-primary through upper secondary education, with 128 million in South Asia, where most disruptions occurred.

Data from UNICEF reveals that more than 118 million students were impacted by heatwaves in April alone, making it the peak month for climate-related school closures across India, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. By May, temperatures in parts of South Asia had soared to 47 degrees Celsius, further exacerbating the crisis.

Common crisis

Despite the shared threat of climate change, South Asian nations have largely faced natural disasters in isolation, each struggling with the fallout independently. While extreme weather indiscriminately ravaged the region, a fragmented response has deepened the vulnerabilities of those most affected.

Heat waves dominated South Asia's climate crises, but intermittent floods and storms compounded the devastation, leaving countless schools inaccessible. In India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan—countries where millions of children were already out of school—the situation was particularly dire. UNICEF has warned of cascading consequences, emphasizing that lost classroom time often leads to long-term setbacks for rural and underserved communities.

For Pakistan, a country on the front lines of the climate crisis, political instability may have shifted policymakers' focus from addressing the pressing issue. "Addressing climate change effectively requires policy consistency and the allocation of necessary funds to long-term mitigation and adaptation programs," said Hassan Akbar, Pakistan Fellow at the Wilson Center.

Political instability in Pakistan, he warned, has diverted daily attention from existential challenges like climate change and disrupted policy continuity. "As South Asia faces extreme weather events as a shared challenge, the lack of cooperation and regional action on climate change leaves the region less resilient," Akbar added.

Looking ahead

In its analysis titled 'Learning Interrupted: A Global Snapshot of Climate-Related School Disruptions,' the UN agency urged governments to prioritize building and retrofitting schools to withstand extreme weather, with upgrades such as improved ventilation, solar-powered cooling systems, and infrastructure designed to endure floods and storms. It also recommended integrating climate change education into national curricula, empowering students to better understand and address future challenges. Additionally, the agency emphasized the need for robust data collection systems to track the impact of climate hazards on education, arguing that such systems would help policymakers better understand and mitigate disruptions.

When asked about the challenges across the region, Akbar pointed out, "One of the biggest hurdles is the lack of data sharing, which hampers both early warning systems and long-term scientific research on how the region's shared ecosystem is evolving."

As the world grapples with the compounded effects of climate change and educational disruption, Pia Rebello Britto, UNICEF's global director of education and adolescent development, warned that addressing both simultaneously is crucial. Despite the bleak outlook, the UN agency stressed that solutions are within reach but must be urgently scaled up.