"Daily extreme heat from blast furnaces disrupts education, exacerbating learning disparities in Southeast Asia."
Similar to millions of other kids in various regions of South and Southeast Asia, Sek Seila has had to handle challenges brought by record-breaking heat, including sudden closures of schools and disrupted lessons and activities.
This year, he mentions, schooling has been challenging due to stifling heat and high humidity in poorly ventilated classrooms. "My classroom doesn't have air conditioning," Sek Seila shared with CNN. Consequently, students pass around mini hand-held fans to keep cool during lessons most of the time.
The sweltering weather has also caused severe disruptions in many South Asian nations, where science has demonstrated that climate change has led to more frequent and intense extreme weather events, such as life-threatening heatwaves. This has left approximately half a billion children at risk and exposed.
A hellish heatwave hit Bangladesh in April, causing numerous schools to stop functioning due to insufficient cooling resources, like fans and air conditioning, to protect students from health concerns, such as dehydration, headaches, and heat stroke. More than 33 million children were impacted.
The most vulnerable were children from poor families in rural areas who could not afford technological devices, like laptops and tablets, for remote learning. Sheldon Yett, representing UNICEF for the region, stated, "It hasn't been a walk in the park for many kids in a country as hot as Bangladesh, where they have been dealing with furnace-like heat virtually every day."
Yett added, "This year was hotter than last year, and global warming is only going to worsen. Apart from severe health risks, we must not forget children's educational needs, which have already been significantly affected after the Covid pandemic."
Greatest suffering occurs in the poorest nations
The United Nations and its agencies assert that developing countries are on the frontlines of the climate crisis and are disproportionately impacted by prolonged extreme weather, including heatwaves, tornadoes, cyclones, severe storms, and flooding.
"Every child has a right to a secure and healthy environment," Yett expressed. "We want to see schools open for the children to learn but in a safe way."
Educators and experts in Cambodia and the Philippines told CNN that March and April were highly challenging for schools. "We don't let students outside when the temperatures get excessively high," said Bong Samreth, who teaches at a public school in the capital Phnom Penh. "However, it's just as hot and uncomfortable indoors, especially with badly ventilated classrooms without fans or air conditioning," he added, noting that he often observes students sweating in their uniforms at their desks.
"We make an effort to look after the children, especially the younger ones, and the past few months have been very trying," Samreth stated.
According to Save the Children Philippines, climate change continues to affect poverty rates and schools in the Philippines, a nation often considered one of the world's most susceptible to the consequences of climate change and still recovering from some of the longest pandemic closures.
The educational disparity between impoverished Philippine children and those in urban areas has been widening, the child welfare and advocacy group mentioned, with children in rural areas struggling to attend school due to the intense heat.
Additionally, overcrowded classrooms with just one or two fans for air circulation and ventilation are not uncommon, alongside insufficient access to clean drinking water, which makes hydration difficult.
"Classes have not been consistent," said Benjo Basas, a social sciences teacher in the capital city of Manila, noting that "almost the entire month of April" had witnessed mass school closures due to intolerable heat. This affected around 7 million children, he told CNN, making it difficult for students to concentrate during lectures, especially as important final-term examinations rapidly approached.
"Some impoverished students, we will make home visits to check in on them and provide study materials," said Mirasol Mamaat, a high-school teacher in the nation's northern province of Pangasinan. "Recently, dozens of students have become sick after extreme heat index levels hit dangerously high temperatures of over 51 degrees Celsius (124 degrees Fahrenheit)," she mentioned.
In the warmer regions like South and Southeast Asia, the months of April, May, and June see the most sweltering heat prior to the arrival of monsoons that provide a much-desired reprieve.
Despite this, as intense weather patterns become standard, ensuring the well-being of children in underprivileged and vulnerable nations is more essential than ever, according to specialists.
"We always claim that children will inherit the world, but what type of world will they inherit if it's burning down?" asked Joy Reyes - a climate justice advocate from the Philippines.
The consequences of air pollution initiated by burning fossil fuels cannot be understated, climate experts warn. There is a necessity for "a core shift" among governments regarding their energy production methods.
"Goverments have the obligation to supply clean energy and infrastructure. It shouldn't be left to businesses or individuals," emphasized Glory Dolphin Hammes, the CEO of IQ Air, which is a research enterprise that meticulously monitors worldwide air quality, circumstances and temperatures.
"Cleaner air, preventing climate change - that should be our future."
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The extreme heat affecting Southeast Asia also impacts countries in Asia, such as Bangladesh, where over 33 million children have been impacted by school closures due to lack of cooling resources during a recent heatwave.
In fact, children in poorer nations across the world, including those in South and Southeast Asia, are often the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change, as demonstrated by the disrupted education and learning opportunities caused by the heatwaves.
Source: edition.cnn.com
