Climate hazards disrupted schooling for 171m students in 2025 — UNICEF
Storms were the most common cause of disruption, affecting 109 million students, followed by floods, which affected at least 70 million.
Nairobi, Kenya — UNICEF estimates that one in ten students in Kenya, totaling 1.9 million learners, faced disruptions to their education due to climate hazards in 2025. Drought emerged as the primary hazard, affecting a significant portion of the 18.4 million students enrolled from pre-primary to secondary school levels, according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics.
Globally, over 171 million students in 106 countries and territories experienced such disruptions in 2025, with three-quarters residing in low- and lower-middle-income nations.
The report highlights that storms caused disruptions for 109 million students, floods affected at least 70 million, and heatwaves impacted an estimated 50 million. UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell emphasized that climate hazards not only disrupt lessons but also destroy schools, displace families, and push vulnerable children, especially girls, out of education permanently.
The figures are considered conservative due to the difficulty in capturing the impact of prolonged hazards like drought compared to acute events like floods and storms.
Across Africa, significant numbers of students were affected in countries such as Niger (4.07 million), South Sudan (3.8 million), Malawi (3.32 million), and Somalia (1.54 million). In South Sudan, UNICEF notes that 2.8 million school-age children have already dropped out, and over half of schools lack essential facilities such as safe classrooms, trained teachers, water, and sanitation.
The report suggests that climate-related disruptions can lead to increased absenteeism and dropout rates, particularly when drought affects household livelihoods, food security, and access to water. Girls are particularly vulnerable, facing additional risks such as increased caregiving responsibilities, displacement, and child marriage.
The economic impact of such disruptions could amount to at least US$200 billion in potential lifetime earnings losses for the affected students in 2025, based on UNICEF's modeling. To address these challenges, UNICEF advocates for the integration of climate resilience into education planning, the strengthening of school infrastructure, ensuring learning continuity during emergencies, increased financing for climate and education initiatives, and the enhancement of climate and education data systems.
In Tanzania, UNICEF reports that climate change clubs have been expanded to all secondary schools and more than half of primary schools by the end of 2025, involving 9,865 adolescents in developing community-based climate solutions.
Written by urgent.news from Capital FM Kenya's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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