Climate crisis disrupts education of 30 million children in Bangladesh in 2024: UNICEF
Recently, UNICEF Bangladesh released a report called ‘Learning Interrupted: A Global Snapshot of Climate-Related School Disruption in 2024,’ addressing climate-related disruptions in schools in Bangladesh.
This is the first time that UNICEF has published such a report. It shows that schools have been closed in phases due to heat waves, cyclones, floods, and other extreme weather events around the world.
Around the world, in 2024, heat waves, storms, floods, and droughts disrupted the education of at least 247 million children in 77 countries. The worst-hit region was South Asia.
In April and May 2024, a heat wave in Bangladesh endangered children by increasing the risk of dehydration and heatstroke, leading to school closures for up to two weeks.
In May, Cyclone Rimal caused significant interruptions to education across multiple districts. Then, in June, severe floods hit, negatively impacting children’s education. The floods affected about 18.4 million people across the country, including 7 million children.
The worst-hit district was Sylhet. The severe floods severely damaged infrastructure, causing more than 600,000 students to drop out of school.
UNICEF Bangladesh reports that children in the Sylhet region missed up to eight weeks of school in the past year due to climate-related events. Children in Khulna, Chattogram, and Rangpur districts have lost up to six weeks of school days each.
UNICEF Bangladesh Representative Rana Flowers said, “As extreme weather events have increased in intensity, they have also become more frequent.
The climate crisis has exacerbated this. These factors negatively affect children’s education in Bangladesh, depriving them of their right to learn.”
She added, ‘Extreme temperatures and other climate-related crises not only disrupt children’s schooling, but can also affect their attention, memory, and mental and physical health.
When schools are closed for long periods, the chances of children, especially girls, dropping out of school increase, and the risk of child marriage increases due to family poverty.’
UNICEF’s Children’s Climate Risk Index states that children in Bangladesh are among the most vulnerable to climate and environmental crises globally. Frequent disasters are increasing “learning poverty” in the country, where students can’t read or understand simple texts by age 10.
Half of school-aged children struggle with reading for their grade level, and two-thirds lack basic math skills after finishing primary school. In addition, many brilliant girls are falling victim to child marriage and dropping out of school prematurely. Bangladesh is among the top 10 countries in the world with the highest rates of child marriage.
The report highlights a significant lack of equipment and planning in schools to protect children from climate impacts, with low investment in climate-focused education.
In this situation, UNICEF is calling on international climate finance institutions and donors, the private sector and the interim government of Bangladesh to prioritize the needs of children in policies and plans.
The organization emphasized the need to speed up funding for the education sector to make it climate-resilient. This will help invest in proven, sustainable solutions for educational institutions to withstand climate change impacts. These educational institutions must be safe and inclusive for all children.
Furthermore, it is essential to guarantee the implementation of national climate plans. Under this, the Nationally Determined Contribution 3.0 and the National Adaptation Plan must be implemented. Enhancing child-focused emergency social services, adapting to climate change, and committing to reducing carbon emissions are essential to mitigating the impacts of climate change.
Third, ensuring the participation of children and young people at all stages of climate-focused policymaking processes is ensured.
Rana Flowers said, “Children in Bangladesh are on the front lines of two interrelated crises – climate change and rising learning poverty – that threaten both their survival and future.
As children speak out and call for urgent action to address the devastating impacts of the climate crisis, policymakers must heed their call and put their needs at the heart of climate-related policies and financing plans.”
