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Global Education Monitoring Report of UNESCO
Context: A recent report by the Global Education Monitoring Report of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has emphasised the enduring impact of climate shocks experienced during early childhood.
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- The paper, part of a series aimed at fostering dialogue on education and the UN-mandated Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),
- highlights the long-term damage extreme weather events can inflict on a child’s development.
- Climate change has a direct effect on education.
SDG4: Ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning.
- Climate-related stressors, such as heat, wildfires, storms, floods, droughts, diseases, and rising sea levels, negatively affect education outcomes.Vulnerability of Young Children & Climate-Related School Closures:
- Young children are particularly vulnerable due to their reliance on adults and developing bodies.
- Immediate physical hazards from floods, droughts, and heatwaves can have long-term negative impacts on cognitive abilities, emotional well-being, and educational opportunities.
- Most low and middle-income countries experience climate-related school closures annually, leading to increased learning loss and dropout rates.
- Over the last 20 years, at least 75 % of extreme weather events have resulted in school closures.
Specific Case Studies:
- Children exposed to severe El Niño floods in Ecuador while in utero were shorter and performed worse on cognitive tests later.
- Rainfall shocks during early life in India negatively impacted vocabulary at age 5 and academic skills at age 15.
- A study of over 140,000 children in seven Asian countries found reduced school enrollment for boys and lower maths performance for girls due to early-life disasters.
- Many low and middle-income countries face annual climate-related school closures, increasing the risk of learning loss and dropout.
- Extreme weather events have caused at least 75% of school closures in the last 20 years.
Impact of Natural Disasters:
- Natural disasters such as floods and cyclones are becoming more frequent, causing deaths of students and teachers, and significant damage to schools.
- The 2013 Jakarta floods disrupted access to schools, which were converted into emergency shelters or closed due to damage.
- Flood exposure reduced the number of completed grades among 12- to 15-year-olds in Ethiopia (3.4%), India (3.8%), and Vietnam (1.8%) due to household income loss.
- Cyclone Idai destroyed 3,400 classrooms in Mozambique in 2019.
- Tropical Cyclone Gita damaged 72% of Tonga’s schools in 2018.
Impact of Heat and Rain Variability:
- Higher-than-average temperatures during prenatal and early life in Southeast Asia are linked to fewer years of schooling.
- High temperatures in China lead to reduced high-stakes test performance, lowering high school graduation and college entrance rates.
- In Pakistan, children and adolescents in flooded districts were 4% less likely to attend school than those in non-flooded districts.
- Low precipitation and drought-like conditions in ten African countries decreased primary school completion rates by 6.4%.
- Drought in rural Maharashtra, India, reduced children’s mathematics and reading scores by 4.1% and 2.7%, respectively.
Role of Education in Climate Action:
- Education is vital for building a green economy and driving climate action.
- It is often deprioritized in climate agendas due to its perceived link to unsustainable consumption and unclear research on its direct impact.
- Climate change education should expand beyond knowledge transfer to include social, emotional, and action-oriented learning.
- A new global indicator for greening education is proposed.
Proactive Measures Needed:
- Strengthening school buildings to withstand climate impacts.
- Training educators to support students psychologically and academically during these challenges.
- Fostering community resilience through awareness and adaptation initiatives.
- The report advocates for greater investment in educational systems to enhance their resilience to climate-related disruptions.
- Need to include climate change education in school curricula, providing not only climate science knowledge but also skills in resilience, adaptation, and sustainable development.
Impact of War and Conflict on Children’s Education
- Over 240 million children globally have had their education disrupted due to war and violent conflict. Children exposed to violence are more at risk of under-achieving and dropping out of school.
- Schools are often destroyed, looted, or occupied during conflicts, leaving children without access to education, affecting over 400 million children in conflict zones.
- In conflict and crisis, girls are 2.5 times more likely to be out of school than boys and are less likely to return post-ceasefire.
- Refugee girls are half as likely to be in school as refugee boys, according to a 2019 UNHCR report.
- In Syria, millions of children lack formal education due to school destruction and inadequate facilities.
- Ethiopia’s Tigray conflict (2020-2022) damaged approximately 7,000 schools, reversing over a decade of progress.
- Till January 2023 over 2,600 schools have been damaged and over 400 destroyed across Ukraine, in the Russia-Ukraine war.
