Climate hazards disrupted schooling for more than 171 million students in 2025

A global education shock

More than 171 million students, roughly one in every ten from pre-primary through upper-secondary age, had their education disrupted by climate hazards during 2025, according to a new global analysis reported by Al Jazeera. The assessment covers 106 countries and territories and counts interruptions caused by storms, floods, heatwaves, drought and wildfires. Disruption included school closures, damaged buildings, shortened timetables, reduced attendance and emergency switches to remote learning.

Storms caused the widest interruption

Storms affected 109 million students, making them the most widespread category in the analysis. Floods affected at least 70 million and heatwaves about 50 million. Those figures overlap because students can experience several hazards in one year, so they should not be added together as a unique global total. Forty countries experienced multiple rounds of interruption, demonstrating that many systems were managing recurring shocks rather than recovering from a single short-lived closure.

Pakistan was among the clearest examples of concentrated disruption: severe monsoon flooding delayed the return to school for more than 28 million students. A major dust and wind event in Egypt produced a one-day nationwide suspension affecting a similarly large number. Madagascar endured drought, cyclones and flooding, while students in Spain faced storms, post-tropical weather and extreme heat at different points in the year. These cases show how very different hazards can produce the same immediate loss of teaching time.

The burden is uneven

Three-quarters of affected students lived in low- and lower-middle-income countries, where schools generally have less capacity to reinforce buildings, provide safe transport or sustain remote instruction. Girls face additional risks when displacement, damaged sanitation and falling household income increase caregiving work, water collection or pressure for early marriage. Interrupted education can therefore become permanent exclusion. A separate UN education warning published this week said conflict and insecurity are already combining with other crises to leave hundreds of millions facing severe learning disruption.

What governments can do next

The policy test is whether education spending begins to treat climate resilience as essential infrastructure. Priorities include safer school buildings, backup water and power, heat-response plans, reliable distance-learning systems and financing that keeps teachers and vulnerable pupils connected during emergencies. Better data is also needed to distinguish brief closures from lasting dropout. The analysis estimates that failure to protect the students affected in 2025 could translate into at least $200 billion in lost lifetime earnings, turning interrupted lessons into a wider development and fiscal problem.