GNV News, January 26, 2025

To mark the International Day of Education on January 24, 2025, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) released an analysis stating that extreme weather events in 2024 severely affected schooling for at least 242 million students in 85 countries. According to the report, in recent years children have been increasingly exposed to severe impacts from extreme weather such as heatwaves, storms, droughts, and floods. In 2024, one in seven students was unable to attend classes due to the impacts of climate change. In South Asia, 128 million students—and 50 million students in East Asia and the Pacific—were affected by heatwaves, including school closures and shortened hours, as well as the risk of heatstroke. Furthermore, El Niño brought frequent heavy rains and floods to East Africa and severe drought in parts of Southern Africa, causing devastating impacts across the continent and, due to displacement, keeping children away from education.

It has been noted that climate-related disasters can damage school infrastructure and supplies, hinder travel to school, create unsafe learning conditions, and affect students’ concentration, memory, and physical and mental health. Prolonged school closures also exacerbate problems such as child marriage and child labor, and girls in particular face an increased risk of dropping out of school and being subjected to gender-based violence during disasters.

Another report released in early 2023 by major international NGOs revealed that, among the world’s leading climate funds, only 2.4% was spent on supporting children. In addition, there has never been an official decision at the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COP) that focuses on children, and children’s voices remain absent from climate action.

Learn more about efforts to address climate change → “A Major Step in the Climate Change Issue: Taking the Case to the ICJ“

Learn more about the relationship between climate change and reporting → “Climate Change and Solutions Journalism“

Children returning home from school during a flood. Indonesia, West Kalimantan Island (Photo: CIFOR-ICRAF / Flickr [CC BY-NC-ND 2.0])