South Asia the most affected region: Climate crisis hits education of crores in BD: UNICEF

Md Mojahidul Islam :

Extreme weather conditions disrupted the education of 35 million children in Bangladesh in 2024, according to the latest analysis released by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF).

The report also highlighted that severe weather events affected the education of 242 million children across 85 countries last year, with one in every seven children impacted by heatwaves, floods, cyclones, and other extreme weather conditions.

In Bangladesh, nationwide heatwaves in April and May put children at risk of dehydration and heatstroke, forcing schools across the country to close for up to two weeks. This was followed by further disruption due to Cyclone Remal and intense flooding in June, the report stated.

Up to 18.4 million people were affected by the floods nationwide, including 7 million children. Sylhet was the worst-hit region, with severe flooding causing widespread infrastructure damage and leaving more than 600,000 learners without access to education, according to the report.

UNICEF’s estimates for Bangladesh revealed that children in Sylhet lost up to eight weeks of school days, while areas in Khulna, Chittagong, and Rangpur experienced six weeks of climate-induced school closures over the course of the year.

Highlighting the ‘overlooked’ aspect of the climate crisis, UNICEF’s Executive Director Catherine Russell emphasised that education was among the services most frequently disrupted by climate hazards. “Yet it is often overlooked in policy discussions,” she warned. “Children’s futures must be at the forefront of all climate-related plans and actions.”

Russell also stressed that children are the “most vulnerable” to extreme weather. “They heat up faster, they sweat less efficiently, and cool down more slowly than adults,” she said in a statement.

In South Asia, heatwaves affected at least 171 million children. In April alone, temperatures soared in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, and Thailand, impacting 118 million children.

Later, in September, the start of the academic year coincided with the devastating Typhoon Yagi, which struck East Asia and the Pacific.

However, the hardest-hit region was South Asia, where 128 million schoolchildren were affected, with India accounting for the majority, at 54 million.

In Pakistan, over 400 schools were destroyed by flooding in April, and in Afghanistan, heatwaves followed by severe flooding in May led to the destruction of more than 110 schools.

The report estimates that nearly 74 per cent of the children affected were from middle- and low-income countries.