Impact of heat on schools, learning averages

Across developed and developing countries, from the United States to Bangladesh, it has been found that higher summer temperatures is leaving schools and students in a bad shape compared to cooler temperatures. Studies indicate that the higher the temperature, there is a decrease in learning among the students, and their performance goes down in tests.

It has been found that the number of schooldays lost to heat is six to seven days compared to three to four days last decade. In Bangladesh, the schools were closed six to seven days last year while this year this could increase to three to four weeks. A study has found that American high school students performed badly in standardised tests in a year when there is higher temperature. According to Boston University economist and co-author of the study, Josh Goodman, there was a decrease in one per cent of learning when the heat increased 0.55 Degrees Celsius or 1 Degree Fahrenheit. And this disappeared in schools with air-conditioning.

About 40 per cent to 60 per cent of schools in the US have either fans or partial air-conditioning. The schools in lower-income districts without heat-insulating devices lagged behind those in higher-income where schools had the necessary facilities. The same contrast holds across the countries which are poor and exposed to extreme heat conditions and those with cooler climes. As global temperatures rise due to the effects of climate change, the impact on learning abilities of children in hot countries will be more. “Climate change will widen the learning gaps between hot and cool countries,” says Goodman. 

Heather Randell, a University of Minnesota sociologist, argues that an increase in heat would affect the crop yields in hot countries, and the children will have less to eat, and their growth would be stunted. The difference in learning capacities of children in hot and cool countries, or between the tropical and temperate latitudes, sounds far-fetched. But there is no denying the fact that increase in global temperatures leading to extreme heat events will have an impact on schools and learning in general.

It will become necessary for schools to remain closed for longer periods if the hot days in a year get extended. And national governments in Asia and Africa will have to take policy decisions to counter the impact of heat. According to reports from NGOs in Bangladesh, the longer schools remain closed, the social and economic impact on children will be greater. It is likely to lead to child labour and child marriages for girls. 

The sociological impact of increase in global temperatures has to be reckoned and responses have to be articulated to provide schools and students with the appropriate physical and institutional setups. But this has to be part of the overall response to the climate change challenge. It cannot be done for each sector or segment separately. It has also been found that extreme heat events are occurring in Europe and in North America as well, and there is need for each country to respond to the heat crisis.

Climate change will have a critical impact across the globe. Those living in cooler climes cannot hope to escape it even as countries near the tropics face the heat literally. What is essential is to study the impact of rising global temperatures on all aspects of life across countries, and compile the statistical data which will help in formulating policies. If the world fails to contain the rise in temperature below the 1.5 Degrees Celsius level of pre-Industrial Revolution days, then emergency plans have to come into play. Adaptation to climate change requires a different set of policies. And the two sets of policies have to go hand in hand.