Not less than one in seven college students had their education disrupted on account of local weather hazards in 2024, based on a United Nations Kids’s Fund (UNICEF) report.
118M kids in India, 4 different nations missed college in April final yr (Photograph by AFP/For illustration)
The report acknowledged that warmth waves had been essentially the most important local weather hazard disrupting education, affecting an estimated 171 million college students globally.
April noticed the best international climate-related college disruptions, with heatwaves affecting at the least 118 million kids in India, Bangladesh, Cambodia, the Philippines, and Thailand, UNICEF mentioned.
In India alone, 54,784,029 college students had been affected in 2024, with heatwaves being the key local weather hazard inflicting the most important college disruption.
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“India is extremely vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change, ranking 26 out of 163 countries in the UNICEF Children’s Climate Risk Index of 2021. Fast-onset hazards such as flooding, landslides and cyclones have repeatedly caused destruction to schools while environmental stressors like extreme heat and air pollution are harming children’s health and hindering their school attendance and learning outcomes,” UNICEF mentioned.
UNICEF talked about that the federal government has built-in components of local weather become the Nationwide Curriculum Framework (NCF).
On the state stage, UNICEF is working with the federal government to implement Complete Faculty Security Programmes (CSSP) throughout 12 states.
“These programmes integrate elements of climate change, focusing on safe school learning environments and empowering children as agents of change.”
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Listed here are UNICEF’s different key findings concerning the influence of utmost local weather occasions on kids’s education
Globally, at the least 242 million college students in pre-primary to upper-secondary lessons skilled college disruptions on account of local weather occasions in 2024.Of the 242 million affected college students, 74 per cent are in low- and lower-middle-income nations, with a median Kids’s Local weather Danger Index (CCRI) rating of seven out of 10.Eighty-five nations/territories noticed their faculties affected by local weather hazards, with 23 nations experiencing a number of rounds of faculty closures.Not less than 20 nations had nationwide college disruptions. Heatwaves, tropical cyclones, storms, and floods prompted nationwide college closures in 2024.South Asia was the area most affected, with 128 million college students’ education disrupted. East Asia and the Pacific area adopted with 50 million impacted college students.September recorded essentially the most frequent climate-related college disruptions. Not less than 18 nations suspended lessons. Storm Yagi affected 16 million kids in East Asia and the Pacific.In Africa, the place over 107 million kids are already out of faculty, climate-related disruptions final yr have put an extra 20 million kids vulnerable to dropping out.