Children exposed to extreme heat early in life may lose up to 1.5 years of schooling, with climate change posing a direct threat to education and risking decades of progress, according to a new global report.

The study—jointly produced by UNESCO’s Global Education Monitoring (GEM) team, the Monitoring and Evaluating Climate Communication and Education (MECCE) project, and the University of Saskatchewan—highlights how climate-related stressors such as heatwaves, wildfires, storms, floods, droughts, disease outbreaks, and rising sea levels are disrupting education worldwide.

In low- and middle-income countries, schools are increasingly forced to close due to climate events, heightening risks of learning loss and student dropout. Over the past two decades, schools closed during at least 75% of extreme weather events affecting five million or more people.

The report reveals that exposure to abnormally high temperatures during prenatal and early childhood periods is linked to lower educational attainment. An analysis across 29 countries between 1969 and 2012 found that children experiencing significantly higher-than-average temperatures are predicted to receive 1.5 fewer years of schooling—particularly in Southeast Asia.

In China, heatwaves have been shown to negatively impact exam results and lower both high school graduation and university entry rates. Similarly, in the United States, a 1°C rise in school-year temperatures without adequate air conditioning led to a 1% drop in test scores. African American and Hispanic students were disproportionately affected, with infrastructure deficiencies contributing to about 5% of the racial achievement gap.

The report noted that nearly half of public school districts in the US need to upgrade or replace multiple heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems. In Brazil’s most disadvantaged and heat-exposed municipalities, students lose approximately 1% of learning annually due to rising temperatures.

Climate-related educational vulnerability is especially severe for marginalised populations. Of the 10 countries worst hit by extreme weather in 2019, eight were low- or lower-middle-income nations. Among the 33 countries identified as extremely high-risk for children—home to nearly one billion people—29 are also classified as fragile states.

In the US, individuals with lower incomes or without secondary education are 15% more likely to live in areas facing the highest projected increases in climate-related childhood asthma. Federal disaster recovery funds have typically gone to school districts serving socially vulnerable communities.

The report also documented the deadly toll of natural disasters on students and teachers, along with the destruction of school infrastructure. In Jakarta, following the 2013 floods, access to education was severely disrupted as schools were damaged or repurposed as emergency shelters. However, 81% of schools with disaster management plans and standard flood response protocols reported them to be effective during the crisis.

The findings call for urgent climate adaptation and resilience planning in education systems, particularly in the world’s most vulnerable regions.

Also Read: Global out-of-school children rises to 272 million: UNESCO