More than 171 million students worldwide, about one in ten from pre-primary to upper secondary age, had their schooling disrupted by climate hazards in 2025, according to a UNICEF analysis released on 10 September 2026. The report, “Learning Interrupted: Global Snapshot of Climate-Related School Disruptions in 2025,” drew on data from 106 countries and territories, making it one of the broadest attempts yet to measure how far climate hazards are reaching into ordinary school life rather than only affecting the communities hit hardest by a single disaster.
Storms were the leading cause
Storms disrupted schooling for around 109 million students, the largest single cause identified in the report, followed by floods, which affected at least 70 million students, and heatwaves, which disrupted schooling for approximately 50 million children. UNICEF said the disruptions took several forms, including suspended classes, damaged school buildings, forced shifts to remote learning, shortened instructional time, reduced attendance and a heightened risk of children dropping out altogether.
Uneven impact
According to UNICEF, girls were disproportionately affected by these disruptions, adding to existing gender gaps in school attendance in some regions. The report frames climate-related disruption as a recurring, rather than occasional, feature of the school calendar in many countries, meaning many of the same schools and students are affected year after year rather than the burden being spread evenly.
Why It Matters
Repeated interruptions to schooling compound over time, particularly for children who are already behind or at risk of dropping out. As storms, floods and heatwaves become more frequent in many regions, UNICEF’s findings add to the case for investing in resilient school infrastructure and contingency plans for remote learning, rather than treating each disruption as an isolated event. A single missed term can often be recovered; a pattern of annual disruption, the kind of scale this report documents, is harder for education systems already stretched thin to absorb without lasting learning losses.
Leave a Reply