The impact of climate change on education in Africa

The impact of climate change on the education sector has become apparent. Reports from Save the Children(2008) and UNICEF(2008) show that this impact is being felt in the form of disruptions to school attendance. For example, in some parts of North Africa, pupils are unable to attend school during periods of extreme heat[i] or sandstorms. Roads also become impassable when drought-burnt soils are unable to absorb the rains.

Climate change not only affects access to schools, but also the health of pupils and teachers. A warmer climate alters the geographic range of disease vectors, such as mosquitoes. As a result, hitherto unscathed populations will be exposed to diseases such as malaria and dengue fever for which they are unprepared. This was the case, for example, with clear liquid meningitis in Djibouti.

Schoolchildren are the most vulnerable group to climate change.

Studies seem to indicate that children[1], because of their vulnerability, are the most affected by climate change (multiplication of natural disasters, nutritional and health crises, migrations...). They affect their well-being and the care they receive, as well as their ability to benefit from a quality, equitable education. Indeed, many rural families in sub-Saharan Africa live essentially from the fruits of agriculture. With severe droughts such as the one in Zimbabwe[ii], millions of parents have lost all their crops and found themselves unable to pay their children's school fees[iii].

This is the case of 15-year-old Zimbabwean Pamhy Maranga, who declares in this video that she can't concentrate during lessons because she has an empty stomach. Again because of the drought, the school's directors claim to have collected school fees for only 10% of the total number of pupils. With less income, families are more likely to spend their money on necessities like food rather than on school fees. Hence the drop in school attendance. Like Maranga, some 1.4 million children have been affected by the severe drought[iv] in Zimbabwe's 10 districts.

The disruption of agricultural practices[2] is another side effect of climate change, leading to an increase in malnutrition due to higher food prices. As stated in a report by the CREATE consortium (2008),

"school-age children who suffer from protein-energy malnutrition, hunger, or whose diet is deficient in certain micronutrients, or who suffer from diseases such as malaria, diarrhea or parasitic affections, do not have the same learning potential as healthy, well-nourished children, and are more likely to repeat grades, drop out early, or fail to learn properly due to lack of concentration or motivation, or cognitive deficits".

While little is known about the cumulative effects of these disruptions on children's academic performance, it is clear that discontinuous school attendance can only have deleterious consequences for learning.

Impact on educational infrastructure

Children and people are not the only ones affected by climate change in Africa. The impact is also visible in educational infrastructures, notably school buildings. For example, many school buildings are not adapted to high temperatures, and pupils and teachers suffocate in them. In some private schools, domestic fans or air conditioning are available, but the cost of access to these private schools is often beyond the means of the average citizen. The overcrowding in public schools means that these children regularly report feeling unwell and suffering from headaches. Not to mention the effects of high temperatures on concentration and the ability to think.

Finally, disruptions to the electricity supply can force schools to suspend their activities, and in extreme cases, bad weather can even damage infrastructure.

The role of education in adapting to climate change

Today, there is a rich and dynamic debate on the role that education should play in encouraging sustainable development and combating climate change. The question is whether the aim of educational programs should be to encourage individuals to develop the skills that will enable them to face and overcome rapid change and uncertainty (critical thinking or problem-solving), to teach people how to adopt appropriate behaviors (recycling, saving energy...), or to promote certain values (respect for self, others and the environment).

Whichever path is chosen, it involves strengthening the resilience of African education systems. Article 6 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change calls for education, training and public awareness to be part of the response to climate change. Yet school curricula in half the world's countries do not explicitly mention climate change in their content.

It is imperative to improve general understanding of the concept of climate change, as well as awareness of its consequences at regional and local level, enabling national authorities to make education systems more resilient to climate risk, and enabling the school environment to be better prepared in the event of climate-related disasters.

In practical terms, testing the resilience of education[v] to climate change means, for example, checking that existing infrastructure is safe in the event of severe weather, and ensuring that the school has a climate risk management plan. For schools, it means better risk assessment when deciding where to build, and choosing a more suitable infrastructure designed to withstand extreme weather events. If temperatures change, so must the equipment. Finally, we could include parameters that are better adapted to the region's changing climate: more energy-efficient buildings that make use of the region's abundant solar energy potential, for example, that collect rainwater for reuse, and so on. In this way, the physical infrastructure of education systems will be better able to withstand the climate.