Heatwaves, floods, and smog: Unprepared education system is leading to learning losses

Climate extremes are increasingly disrupting education, forcing school closures, reducing attendance, and exacerbating learning losses, especially for the most vulnerable children. If we fail to protect their education, we are failing their future.

As April begins, several states in India, including Odisha, Maharashtra, Gujarat already shift to morning school timings. Chhattisgarh and West Bengal have advanced their summer vacations to protect children from excessive heat. These regional responses highlight the growing impact of climate change on education, as climate disruptions continue to disrupt the learning routines of millions of children.

According to UNICEF, climate extremities interrupted schooling for at least 242 million children globally in 2024. South Asia bore the brunt of this crisis with 128 million affected students. India emerged as one of the most vulnerable nations, where 54.8 million children were affected by heatwave alone. The country ranks 26th out of 163 countries in the UNICEF Children’s Climate Risk Index – an alarming position that underscores the urgency of action.

Frequency and intensity of extreme weather conditions—heatwaves, floods, cyclones, and air pollution—are increasingly forcing schools to close, shortening academic calendars, and exacerbating learning losses. Last year too, several states like Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Odisha extended summer vacations due to prolonged heatwaves, while others like Assam and Meghalaya faced unprecedented school closures due to floods. In Delhi-NCR region, every winter severe smog and air pollution shuts down schools for several weeks.

World Bank estimates that a 10-year-old in 2024 is likely to experience two times as many wildfires and tropical cyclones, three times more river floods, four times more crop failures, and five times more droughts over his lifespan, compared to a 10-year-old in 1970, if a 3°C global warming path continues.

Even when schools are not officially closed, education is impacted by climate crisis in several ways. For example, in deluge days, students in flood-affected areas require much more time traveling from home to the school, which increases absenteeism by a high proportion. Hot days and days with poor air quality are known to impact cognition and academic performance of children. While India lacks specific data, studies from Brazil and China show direct association between higher particulate matter (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) with lower test scores. World Bank estimates that students living in the hottest 10 percent of Brazilian municipalities, loose nearly one per cent of learning every year due to heat exposure alone.

Most affected children are often also the most vulnerable ones: Girls, children from disadvantaged socio-economic families and those residing in rural or remote areas. Besides learning loss, they also suffer due to disruption in other benefits like the school meals. Studies show that school meal programmes translate in academic achievement (like better maths or reading scores), only if children receive it continuously and for a prolonged period.

Despite these substantial consequences, education remains a blind spot in climate policy agenda. India’s National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC), launched in 2008, does not include education as a focus area. Similarly, NEP 2020, while emphasising environmental education, shortchanges climate vulnerability of the education sector in pursuit of other urgent priorities. State-level action plans merely try to cope with extreme weather by extending school vacations or shifting to online classes – measures that are reactive rather than proactively building systematic resilience.

There are five concrete steps governments can undertake to protect education systems from climate shocks. First is to measure and record trends to fully understand the impact of climate crisis on direct and indirect learning losses – much of which remains poorly understood, and highly context specific.

· Better understanding, tracking and monitoring will contribute to better policy decisions and tailored implementation.

· Second is to prioritise investments in climate-resilient infrastructure in education, such as disaster-proof school buildings, solar-powered classrooms, and proper ventilation systems.

· Third is to ensure learning continuity during climate emergencies, through pre-planned flexible academic calendars, adjusted school timings, leveraging digital education, broadcast programmes and community-based learning hubs.

· Fourth is mainstreaming climate into school curricula, equipping students with the knowledge and skills to become more resilient, become change agents and mitigate climate risks.

· Finally, nothing can move without adequate funding for climate-resilient education and partnerships between diverse stakeholders like governments, civil society, and the private sector, both of which are crucial for scaling up innovative solutions.

With one third of India’s population under 18 years and high climate vulnerability, the time to act is now. Without urgent action, millions of students will face a future of lost opportunities.