Climate disasters, conflict and exclusion are making education unstable for millions of children
- Editorial Team SDG4
- 9 hours ago
- 6 min read
Published on 4 May 2026 at 02:31 GMT
By Editorial Team SDG4
For millions of children, the global education crisis no longer looks only like a locked classroom or a destroyed school. Increasingly, it looks like a school that still exists but cannot reliably function, because extreme heat closes it, conflict makes the journey unsafe, displacement overwhelms it, or exclusion keeps the most vulnerable children at the margins. Education is becoming unstable even where schools remain open.
The scale is stark. UNICEF has reported that at least 242 million students in 85 countries had their schooling disrupted by extreme climate events in 2024, including heatwaves, storms, floods, cyclones and droughts. Education Cannot Wait, the UN-backed global fund for education in emergencies, estimates that 234 million crisis-affected children and adolescents now need urgent support to access quality education. UNESCO has warned that about 251 million children and young people remain out of school, showing how slow progress has become even before instability inside schooling is fully counted.
These figures point to a deeper shift in how education is being disrupted. Traditional measurements often focus on enrolment, school attendance and infrastructure. Those remain essential. But they can miss the experience of children who are technically enrolled yet learn only intermittently, sit in overcrowded classrooms, lose months to heat or floods, or attend schools without teachers, electricity, sanitation, textbooks or psychosocial support. Being enrolled is not the same as being educated.
Climate change is one of the fastest-growing threats to education continuity. Floods can destroy classrooms, contaminate water supplies and force families into temporary shelters. Drought can push children into work or long journeys for water. Heatwaves can make classrooms unsafe, especially where buildings lack ventilation, shade or cooling. In some countries, schools are used as evacuation centres after disasters, which may be necessary for public safety but can delay the return to learning.
The impact is not evenly shared. Children in low-income countries, informal settlements, rural areas, small island states and climate-vulnerable regions often face the most frequent disruption with the fewest resources for recovery. A child in a wealthy city may experience climate disruption as a short school closure followed by online lessons. A child in a flood-prone rural district may lose books, transport, meals, records and months of learning at once. Climate risk has become an education inequality issue.
Conflict adds another layer of instability. In armed conflicts, schools may be damaged, occupied, closed or turned into shelters. Teachers may flee. Families may move repeatedly. Children may become afraid to travel to class, particularly where checkpoints, violence or insecurity affect daily routes. The Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack has documented thousands of reported attacks on education and incidents involving the military use of schools and universities in recent years. Such attacks harm students and educators directly, but they also create a chilling effect that can keep entire communities away from learning.
Even where classrooms remain physically intact, conflict can hollow out education systems. Public budgets are diverted, teacher salaries are delayed, school inspections stop, exams are cancelled and school records are lost. Refugee-hosting communities may keep schools open but struggle with double shifts, language barriers and overcrowding. A functioning school system depends on more than buildings. It needs trained teachers, predictable funding, safe routes, learning materials, inclusive policies and trust from families.
Exclusion is the third force making education unstable, and it often intersects with climate and conflict. Girls, children with disabilities, refugees, internally displaced children, ethnic minorities and children living in poverty are more likely to be pushed out when systems are strained. When families lose income after drought, displacement or violence, school costs that once seemed manageable can become impossible. Uniforms, transport, meals, devices and exam fees can all become barriers.
Girls may face particular risks when schooling becomes irregular. Prolonged closures can increase the likelihood of early marriage, unpaid care work and permanent dropout. Children with disabilities may lose specialist support when emergency responses focus only on reopening basic classrooms. Refugee and migrant children may be excluded by documentation requirements, language policies or discrimination. Crisis does not affect all children equally.
The result is a form of hidden education loss. A school can be counted as open while children attend only part-time. A child can be listed as enrolled while reading skills stagnate. A ministry can report recovery after a disaster while the poorest students never return. This matters because interrupted learning has long-term consequences for earnings, health, civic participation and social stability. Children who miss foundational literacy and numeracy often struggle to catch up, even after the immediate crisis has passed.
The issue is directly connected to SDG 4 (quality education), which commits governments to inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning. It is also linked to SDG 10 (reduced inequalities), because crisis deepens existing gaps, and SDG 13 (climate action), because education systems are now on the front line of climate adaptation. In conflict settings, SDG 16 (peace, justice and strong institutions) is also relevant, since safe schooling depends on protection, accountability and the rule of law. The education crisis is also a governance crisis.
Governments and aid agencies increasingly speak of building resilient education systems. In practice, that means schools designed or retrofitted for heat and floods, early warning systems that include education planning, safer school routes, emergency learning materials, flexible calendars, catch-up programmes and teacher support. It also means ensuring that children in temporary settlements, remote areas or host communities are not treated as temporary learners whose education can be postponed indefinitely.
Civil society organisations play an important role, though they cannot substitute for public systems. Save the Children has long worked on education in emergencies, child protection and school recovery after conflict and disasters. Plan International focuses strongly on girls’ education and the gendered effects of crisis. The International Rescue Committee supports displaced and conflict-affected children, including through learning and psychosocial programmes. Their work often shows where formal systems are failing first.
Yet the policy challenge is not only humanitarian. Education in emergencies is still often treated as a temporary response, separate from national education planning. This division is increasingly unrealistic. Climate shocks are no longer rare interruptions. Some conflicts last for years. Displacement is frequently protracted. The children affected by these crises cannot wait for normal conditions to return before learning resumes.
Financing remains one of the hardest barriers. Education receives a relatively small share of humanitarian funding compared with needs, and long-term development finance may not move quickly enough after disasters or displacement. Low-income countries also face debt pressure, limited tax bases and competing demands across health, food security, infrastructure and climate adaptation. Stable education requires stable financing. Without it, teachers leave, repairs are delayed and catch-up programmes disappear before children recover lost learning.
There are also trade-offs. Closing schools during extreme heat or conflict may protect children in the short term, but repeated closures harm learning. Using schools as shelters may save lives after floods, but it can delay education unless alternative spaces are prepared. Digital learning can help some students continue, but it can widen inequality where families lack electricity, devices or internet access. The central question is not whether schools should close or stay open at all costs. It is how systems can protect children while keeping learning continuous and inclusive.
The growing instability of education should change how progress is measured. Enrolment remains important, but it is insufficient. Policymakers need to track lost learning days, climate-related closures, safety risks, teacher availability, disability access, displacement status and whether children are learning at grade level after repeated disruptions. Counting children in school is no longer enough.
For families, the issue is practical and immediate. A disrupted school can mean a child loses meals, protection, routine, friendships, language development and confidence. For societies, it can mean a generation entering adulthood with fewer skills and weaker trust in public institutions. The cost is not only borne by children, but by labour markets, health systems, local economies and civic life.
The schools may still be standing. That fact should not obscure the fragility around them. In many places, the promise of education is being eroded by forces that act outside the classroom but land heavily inside it. The next education agenda must be built for disruption. It must protect schools from conflict, adapt them to a hotter climate, include children who are most easily excluded, and recognise that learning is not secure simply because a classroom door remains open.
Further information:
UNICEF, provides global data and field analysis on children’s education, climate shocks and emergency disruption.
UNESCO, monitors global progress towards SDG 4 and publishes education data, policy analysis and the Global Education Monitoring Report.
Education Cannot Wait, the UN global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises, tracks crisis-affected children’s education needs.
Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack, documents attacks on schools, students, teachers and universities in conflict settings.
Save the Children, works on education in emergencies, child protection and support for children affected by conflict, displacement and disasters.
