Pakistan’s children are losing weeks of education each year because of climate change. Extreme weather has forced schools to close, prompting calls for a radical rethink of learning schedules.
Searing heat, toxic smog and unusual cold snaps have all caused closures intended to spare children the health risks of learning in classrooms that are overcrowded or lack basic cooling, heating or ventilation systems.
In May, a nationwide heatwave saw temperatures up to seven degrees Celsius above normal, hitting 45 degrees (113 degrees Fahrenheit) in Punjab and prompting several provinces to cut school hours or start summer holidays early.
“The class becomes so hot that it feels like we are sitting in a brick kiln,” said 17-year-old Hafiz Ehtesham outside a Lahore school. “I don’t even want to come to school.”
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Pakistan is among the countries most vulnerable to climate change, with limited resources for adaptation. Extreme weather is exacerbating an existing education crisis, mainly caused by limited access and poverty.
“Soon, we will have major cognitive challenges because students are being impacted by extreme heat and extreme smog over long periods of time,” said Lahore-based education activist Baela Raza Jamil.
“The poorest are most vulnerable. But climate change is indeed a great leveller, and the urban middle class is also affected.”
Strange, bad weather
Pakistan’s summers historically began in June, when temperatures hit the high 40s. But in the last five years, May has been similarly hot, according to the Meteorological Department.
“During a power outage, I was sweating so much that the drops were falling off my forehead onto my desk,” 15-year-old Jannat, a student in Lahore, told Agence France-Presse. “A girl in my class had a nosebleed from the heat.”
Around a third of Pakistani school-age children – over 26 million – are out of school, according to government figures, one of the highest numbers in the world. At least 65 per cent of children are unable to read age-appropriate material by age 10.
School closures affect almost every part of Pakistan, including the country’s most populous province Punjab, which has the highest rates of school attendance.
Classes were closed for two weeks in November due to air pollution and another week in May because of the heat. In the previous academic year, three weeks were lost in January to a cold snap and two weeks in May due to heat.
In Balochistan, Pakistan’s poorest province, May heatwaves have prompted early summer holidays for three years running, while in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, school hours are regularly slashed.
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Finding a solution
For authorities, the choice is often between sending children to school in potentially dangerous conditions or watching them fall behind.
In southern Sindh province, authorities have resisted heat-related closures despite growing demands from parents.
“It’s hard for parents to send their children to school in this kind of weather,” private school principal Sadiq Hussain told Agence France-Presse in Karachi, adding that attendance drops by 25 per cent in May.
“Their physical and mental health is being affected,” added Dost Mohammad Danish, general secretary of the All Sindh Private Schools and Colleges Association. “Don’t expect better scientists from Pakistan in the coming years.”
Schools in Pakistan are overseen by provincial authorities, whose closure notices apply to all schools in a region, even when they are hundreds of kilometres (miles) apart and may be experiencing different conditions or have other resources to cope.
Teachers, parents and education experts want a rethink of school hours, exam timetables and holidays. One solution is for schools to offer Saturday morning classes or split the school day to avoid the midday heat.
Izza Farrakh, a senior education specialist at the World Bank, said climate change-related consequences are affecting attendance and learning outcomes.
“Schools need to have flexibility in determining their academic calendar. It shouldn’t be centralised,” she said, adding that end-of-year exams usually taken in May could be replaced by regular assessments throughout the year.
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Meeting each child’s needs
Adapting school buildings is also crucial.
International development agencies have already equipped thousands of schools with solar panels, but many more of the country’s 250,000 schools need help.
Hundreds of climate-resilient schools funded by World Bank loans are being built in Sindh. They are elevated to withstand monsoon flooding and fitted with solar panels for power and rooftop insulation to combat heat and cold.
But in Pakistan’s most impoverished villages, where education is a route out of generational poverty, parents still face tough choices.
In rural Sukkur, the local school was among 27,000 that were damaged or destroyed by the unprecedented floods of 2022. Children learn outside their half-collapsed school building, unprotected from the elements.
“Our children are worried, and we are deeply concerned,” said parent Ali Gohar Gandhu, a daily wage labourer. “Everyone is suffering.”
