Colombia Among Countries Where Climate Hazards Affect Children’s Education

When Latin American countries begin to face the effects of the El Niño phenomenon, and particularly Colombia experiences scenarios of drought and even forest fires, UNICEF is releasing a report in which it reveals that, worldwide, in 2025, more than 171 million students (that is, one in ten) suffered disruptions to their education due to climate hazards.

In the case of Colombia, this is an effect that is little considered in the analyses and projections of the consequences of the climate phenomenon originating in the Pacific Ocean. The main concerns focus on water shortages, forest fires, the energy crisis (with the threat of a blackout), and food security and health.

However, last year, according to the UNICEF report entitled “Learning Interrupted: Global Snapshot of Climate-Related School Disruptions in 2025,” which analyzes data from 106 countries or territories, in Colombia 374,377 students were affected by climate-related school disruptions. Colombia is also part of the subgroup of countries where estimates were adjusted for undercounting in crisis-affected contexts.

In the country, the main climate hazard that caused school disruption that year was drought. If it is considered that drought will be one of the consequences of the El Niño phenomenon this year, it could be inferred that, once again, it will have impacts on children‘s education.

Climate hazards mean more than interruption of classes

In general, in addition to droughts, other climate hazards such as storms, floods, heat waves, and forest fires led, in the 106 countries analyzed, to the suspension of classes, damage to schools, the establishment of distance learning, the reduction of instructional hours, decreased school attendance, and a greater risk of dropping out of school for millions of students.

Colombia, in the UNICEF report, is part of the 35 countries where the number of children of school age, from preschool education through the second cycle of secondary education, who suffered disruptions to their education due to climate hazards, exceeds 370,000.

In some cases, these figures are related to the population of the countries and their exposure to climate phenomena. Thus, for example, in India there were 26,096,071 children; in China there were 9,995,915 children; in Pakistan, 28,000,832 children; in the Philippines, 12,300,277 children, or in Syria, 6,900,000. In Latin America, Mexico stands out, with 9,081,420 children; the Dominican Republic, 2,412,553 children; and Argentina, 1,206,782 children.

“For millions of children, climate hazards mean much more than an interruption of classes. They destroy schools, displace families and force the most vulnerable, especially girls, to leave the classroom forever,” said Catherine Russell, UNICEF executive director, quoted in a statement from the UN agency.

According to the report, girls face a greater risk of dropping out of school when climate hazards disrupt the functioning of schools or cause them to close.

Damage caused to schools and sanitation facilities, displacement and the loss of family income can generate greater responsibilities for girls in terms of caregiving and obtaining water. These difficulties also expose them even more to the risk of child marriage, which increases the obstacles they face in returning to class when schools reopen.

Learning losses and higher dropout rates can reduce the productivity of the workforce, slow economic growth and hinder countries’ efforts to reduce poverty.

The report finds that inaction could result in a potential loss of at least 200 billion dollars in the income that students affected by climate-related disruptions to their education in 2025 would earn over the course of their lives.

According to UNICEF’s analysis, storms were the most frequent cause of disruptions to school activity in 2025, affecting 109 million students worldwide. Floods affected at least 70 million students, while heat waves had consequences for the education of approximately 50 million children.

Students at all income levels affected

Although the disruptions affected students at all income levels, three-quarters of the students affected live in low-income and lower-middle-income countries, where education systems often lack the resources necessary to preserve learning during climate-related emergencies.

For example, in Pakistan (one of the countries most affected in the analysis), severe monsoon floods in August delayed the return to classrooms of more than 28 million students, constituting one of the largest climate-related disruptions to education recorded in 2025. In Egypt, a strong khamsin storm (wind and dust) forced classes to be suspended throughout the country for one day in April, also affecting more than 28 million students.

The data indicate that, during 2025, 40 countries experienced multiple episodes of climate-related disruptions to education. Madagascar, for example, experienced several waves of drought, tropical cyclones and floods that affected 280,000 students throughout the year.

In Spain, more than 500,000 students in the Valencian Community were affected by the storms that occurred in March, followed by post-tropical cyclone Gabrielle in September. In the rest of the country, thousands of students experienced interruptions to classes in May and June due to extreme heat, as well as the consequences on school activity of Storm Alice in October.

At the same time, the report highlights practical solutions that are already helping to protect learning against climate hazards, such as integrating climate resilience into education planning at the national level, strengthening school infrastructure, ensuring the continuity of learning during and after disruptions, and incorporating climate education into curricula to provide children and young people with the skills necessary to adapt to a changing world.