Climate change: A growing threat to education in Eastern and Southern Africa

Ensuring that school children around the world have access to high-quality, inclusive, and relevant teaching and learning experiences that prepare them for the future is becoming increasingly difficult. Climate change is presenting serious barriers to educational achievement, impeding children’s (especially girls’) ability to learn, thrive, and aspire to a brighter future.

A growing body of evidence demonstrates that climate shocks—heavy rainfall, extreme heat, drought, and landslides—affect learners both directly and indirectly. These events disrupt education by damaging school infrastructure, increasing absenteeism, and impairing concentration and learning outcomes, as cognitive development can be impaired by malnutrition. Taken together, all these climate-related factors keep children out of school. Read more