In 2022, extreme rainfall caused massive flooding across Pakistan, killing more than 1,700 people and displacing millions.
Many school buildings were damaged or destroyed, leaving children without classes for months.
As the climate warms and extreme weather becomes more common, experts worry these disasters could have a significant impact on education.
Marin: “Globally, we estimate that extreme weather events disrupted the education of more than 400 million students from January 2022 to June 2024, that is, two and a half years.”
The World Bank's Sergio Venegas Marin studies climate and education.
Even if schools remain open, the impact of the disaster will change students' lives, he said.
Marin: “Some very painful things affected them.”
As a result, some students may remain out of school while their families rebuild. Others may have difficulty learning while still experiencing trauma.
Marin said these harms fall disproportionately on people in low-income countries, where schools may be less able to recover quickly.
Marin: “These effects will be felt across generations, because lower educational attainment tends to limit social mobility. … So this poses a real threat to the progress we have made in recent decades in reducing poverty. .
Reporting credit: Ethan Friedman/ChavoBart Digital Media
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