Lahore:
Pakistan’s children lose weeks of education every year for school closures caused by climate -changing extreme weather, which is called for a radical reconsideration of learning plans.
Permisual warm, toxic smog and unusual cold snaps have all caused closures intended to protect children the health risks of learning in classrooms that are often crowded and lacks basic cooling, heating or ventilation systems.
In May, a nationwide heat wave saw temperatures up to seven degrees Celsius over Normal, which hit 45c (113 degrees Fahrenheit) in Punjab and got more provinces to cut school time or start the summer holidays early.
“The class gets so hot that it feels like we’re sitting in a brick oven,” said 17-year-old Hafiz Ehtesham outside an inner city of Lahore school.
“I won’t even come to school.”
Pakistan is among the countries that are most vulnerable to climate change, with limited resources for adaptation, and extreme weather aggravates an existing educational crisis that is mostly caused by access and poverty.
“Soon we will have major cognitive challenges because students are affected by extremely warm and extreme smog over long periods,” said Lahore-based educational activist Baela Raza Jamil.
“The poorest are most vulnerable. But climate change is actually a large level and the urban middle class is also affected.”
Pakistan’s summers began historically in June when temperatures hit the high 40s. But for the past five years, May has been warm in the same way, according to the meteorological department.
“During a power outage, I sweated so much that the drops fell off my forehead on my desk,” 15-year-old Jannat, a student in Lahore, told AFP.
“A girl in my class had a nasal bleeding from the heat.”
About one-third of the Pakistani children of school-age-over 26 million are out of school, according to government figures, one of the highest numbers in the world.
And 65 percent of children are unable to read age-passing material after the age of 10.
School endings affect almost every part of Pakistan, including the country’s most populous province of Punjab, which has the highest rates of school participation.
Classes closed for two weeks in November over air pollution and another week in May due to heat. In the previous year of study, three weeks in January lost to a cold snap and two weeks in May due to heat.
Political turmoil and cricket games that closed roads meant several lost days.
In Balochistan, Pakistan’s poorest province, heat waves may have led to holidays for the summer for three years, while school hours in northwestern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province are regularly cut.
For the authorities, the choice is often between sending children to school under potentially dangerous conditions or seeing them fall afterwards.
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 AFP in Karachi, adding that participation falls by 25 percent in May.
“Their physical and mental health is affected,” added Dost Mohammad Danish, Secretary General of all Sindh Private Schools and Colleges Association.
“Don’t expect better scientists from Pakistan in the coming years.”
Schools in Pakistan are monitored by provincial authorities whose closing messages apply to all schools in a region, even when they are hundreds of miles (miles) apart and may experience different conditions or have different resources to cope.
Teachers, parents and educational experts want a reconsideration of school hours, examination plans and holidays, with schools capable of offering Saturday courses or dividing the school day to avoid the dinner heat.
Izza Farrakh, a senior education specialist at the World Bank, said climate change -related effects affect participation and learning outcomes.
“Schools need to have the flexibility to determine their academic calendar. It should not be centralized,” she said, adding that exams at the end of the year usually taken in May could be replaced by regular assessments all year round.
Adaptation of 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 the World Bank loans are built in Sindh. They are raised to withstand monsoon flooding and equipped with solar panels for power and roof terrace to fight heat and cold.
