In recent years, we have learned how to live between successive crises. Wars, climate disasters, epidemics and forced displacement. Every emergency preoccupies its occupants for a period of time, but there is a less obvious damage that silently accumulates: educational loss. Classes closed by conflict or natural disasters have become global symptoms of fragility. While the world reacts too late and in a fragmented manner, millions of children and girls are being cut off from their basic right: education.
Schools are at the center of this new global risk map. They are destroyed by hurricanes, earthquakes or floods. They adapt to improvised shelters, or, in war contexts, to military objectives. When a school collapses, students are lost to the ground: routines are broken, school feeding is interrupted, health and protection services are suspended, and the social fabric that supports the community is weakened. In conflict and emergency contexts, education provides protection. Safe Earth School teaches: saves lives.
In Gaza, education has become another victim of the carnage. In these winds of hope that begin with a loud announcement of gunfire, it is important to prioritize the return of children and children to classrooms. Ensuring the right to education is urgent. Gaza is one of the places in the world most affected by gross violations of the right to education: thousands of children and girls remain out of school, and over the years, many educational facilities have been damaged or destroyed. More than 13,500 students died, the education of 785,000 others was interrupted, and more than 800 teachers lost their results, according to data published by the government. Many schools have been converted into improvised shelters or are being used for military purposes, increasing fear among students. It is estimated that the accumulated educational loss is equivalent to three years of schooling, which is a profound legacy in the present and future of an entire generation.
In the Sahel region, more than three million boys and girls were deprived of education in more than 8,000 centers due to insecurity. In Bangladesh, 35 million students had their lessons interrupted last year due to cyclones, heat waves and floods that destroyed nearly 4,000 schools. In the Philippines, entire regions lost more than a month of school due to climate disasters. In Central America, classes have been canceled due to the dual threat of violence from bandanas and hurricanes.
When a school collapses, students are lost to the ground: routine is broken, school feeding is cut off, health and protection services stop, and the social fabric that supports the community is weakened.
According to the latest data, the education of 242 million children and girls was interrupted last year due to extreme weather events.
This crisis is exacerbated by inequality. Low-income countries spend an average of 45 days each year due to climate change, compared to the six days spent by rich countries. This gap is widening more and more. Educational poverty – the inability to read and understand texts for many years – affects up to 70% of children in middle- and low-income countries. It means learning on the ground, but it also means future opportunities: less education means less income, less health, and less ability to adapt to emerging crises.
The frequency of natural disasters has not decreased; On the contrary, economic and human damage has doubled in the past decade. The climate crisis is not a future threat: it is the context in which we must learn how to educate. If we do not adapt education systems to this new reality, school losses will become increasingly longer, learning losses will be deeper, and inequality will become more structural.
Spain is also a vehicle for this phenomenon. It ranks eighth globally in terms of climate risks, with extreme heat representing the main threat. There are more than a thousand educational centers in the flood areas, and behind Al-Dana, more than a hundred schools were damaged, some of which suffered severe structural damage. Despite being a signatory to the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, Spain has not progressed in implementing the Safe Schools Index and has not committed to the Integrated School Security Framework, unlike other European countries. If we want our education system to be resilient, we must assume that climate change also runs through our classrooms.
We know from experience that educational loss includes many students. We lived through the Covid-19 pandemic, where more than 1,600 million students were out of school, and educational systems were closed, on average, for 141 days. The consequences were profound and varied: the most vulnerable students on the ground lost academic content, as well as emotional support, nutrition and protection. Five years later, the effects are still noticeable.
Education cannot remain a collateral victim of every crisis. It must be part of the response. This implies integrating risk management into educational policies, ensuring continuity plans at each centre, training teachers in blended teaching and psychosocial support, and ensuring technological resources and connectivity so that no one ever leaves. This also requires investing in resilient infrastructure, adapting schools to new climate conditions, and equipping them with early warning systems that communicate with local communities.
By 2024, more than 400 million students around the world will be affected by climate-related school closures, and 242 million children’s education will be interrupted due to extreme meteorological events.
But above all, it requires a clear political decision: allocating consistent and adequate funding for education in emergencies. Today, only 3% of global humanitarian aid is allocated to ensuring education during crises, when this proportion should be at least 10%. Education in the midst of disasters is not a luxury, but a necessity. Schools are spaces that protect, nurture, guide and restore a sense of normalcy to childhood. They are also a source of resilience, and places where you learn to understand and prevent risks.
Education heals in the broadest sense of the end: it restores connections, heals traumas, and provides a horizon when everything around it is collapsing. In emergency situations, an open school can mean the difference between hope and despair. Therefore, ensuring education in every context is not just a commitment to childhood, but a strategy for collective survival.
If we want a more just and sustainable world, we must start ensuring that every child can continue learning, even when the world around them is turbulent and uncertain.