When Climate Collapse Becomes a Classroom Crisis: How Heat and Drought Are Forcing India’s Girls Out of School

India, home to one of the world’s largest youth populations, once imagined its future through the aspirations of its students. But as the climate crisis accelerates, the country is confronting a harsh new reality: rising temperatures, water scarcity, and extreme weather are now rewriting the daily routine of millions of schoolchildren. According to UNICEF, 54 million Indian students experienced climate-related educational disruptions in 2024 alone—a staggering figure that transforms climate change from a distant environmental threat into a deeply personal educational crisis.

For Indian girls, already burdened by social norms and domestic responsibilities, the crisis is far more severe. The climate emergency is widening gender gaps in schooling, forcing thousands to abandon classrooms to shoulder survival tasks at home. And India is not alone. Across Cambodia, El Salvador, the Philippines, and parts of West Africa, the same pattern emerges: climate shocks fracture families and strain fragile schooling systems, keeping girls out of classrooms and pushing them closer to early marriage. What was once framed primarily as an economic challenge has evolved into a generational educational upheaval.

Maharashtra’s Parched Districts: Where Drought Steals Childhood

In the drought-hit districts of Nashik and Nandurbar, climate change dictates a daily timetable that rarely aligns with school schedules. Here, drought is not a temporary disruption—it is the infrastructure of everyday life.

An AFP report captures this stark reality through the story of 17-year-old Ramati Mangla, who rises before dawn, barefoot and clutching a steel pot, to walk kilometres for water. By the time she returns, school hours have slipped away. “I have kept my books,” she says, “but what if I never get a chance to go back?” Her question echoes across thousands of households where survival has become an all-consuming task.

Local estimates indicate that nearly two million people in these districts face daily water shortages. As wells dry and rainfall patterns collapse, male migration has surged—leaving girls to fetch water and manage household labour. The educational fallout is clear: teachers report that girls’ attendance drops sharply whenever drought intensifies. For many families navigating scarcity, girls are the first to be withdrawn from school and the last to be considered for a return. Their futures are traded for the certainty of water, household labour, and often, early marriage.

In such regions, climate change is not simply disrupting routines—it is dissolving opportunity. Childhood is being spent queuing at shrivelled wells, and schooling has become conditional on forces beyond a family’s control

A Regional Crisis: South Asia at the Epicentre

UNICEF’s Learning Interrupted report shows a global map of climate-linked disruptions, with South Asia as the hardest-hit region, recording 128 million student disruptions in 2024. India alone accounts for almost half of these losses, driven primarily by extreme heat.

April 2024 marked a decisive shift: temperatures soared past 45°C in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, and Delhi, forcing schools to close for weeks. Heatwaves did not only shutter classrooms—they reduced students’ ability to learn at all. Research shows that extreme heat impairs cognitive performance, concentration, and memory. The very physiological foundations of learning begin to erode long before classrooms officially close their doors.

For low-income families already grappling with gender discrimination, household labour burdens, and limited access to educational resources, this compounding crisis becomes catastrophic. Girls, positioned at the intersection of climate vulnerability and entrenched norms, face the steepest learning loss.

A Global Pattern With a Gendered Impact

India’s story mirrors a global trend. Across climate-vulnerable nations, the same forces—disasters, migration, water scarcity, food insecurity—push girls out of school. The Malala Fund estimates that 12.5 million girls from 30 climate-vulnerable countries will see their education halted abruptly each year due to climate impacts.

Education systems in the world’s poorest regions are overstretched even in stable conditions. When climate shocks hit, the consequences intensify: girls are pulled into domestic responsibilities, relocated in migration waves, or married early as households struggle to cope.

India’s rural belts, long shaped by patriarchal traditions and economic fragility, lie squarely within this global crisis. For millions of girls, climate change is not a theoretical problem—it is a direct threat to their schooling, safety, autonomy, and long-term well-being.

Heat, Hunger, and Hardship: India’s School Infrastructure Under Strain

UNICEF’s findings expose an uncomfortable truth: India’s school infrastructure is not prepared for a climate-disrupted future. Many rural schools operate without:

• Cooling systems
   
• Adequate ventilation
   
• Reliable drinking water
   
• Safe, climate-proof buildings
   

When schools close for extended periods, the disruption is not limited to academics. For millions, school is a source of mid-day meals, protection from early marriage, and structured learning. Interruptions therefore affect nutrition, safety, and social development.

UNICEF notes that even “talented and promising students” have dropped out during climate disasters. The Children’s Climate Risk Index places South Asia among the world’s most climate-exposed regions, meaning disruptions are poised to intensify before any relief appears.

Recognising this, India has begun strengthening preparedness through the Comprehensive School Safety Programme (CSSP), implemented with UNICEF across 12 states. The initiative aims to reinforce buildings, train teachers for emergencies, and embed climate awareness in classrooms. However, the scale of the challenge vastly outpaces current interventions. India’s education system now finds itself in a race against rising temperatures.

Reimagining Education for a Climate-Altered Future

Across reports from AFP, UNICEF, and Plan International, a clear roadmap emerges: the education sector must be rebuilt for climate resilience. The following strategies are no longer aspirational—they are urgent requirements.

1. Build Climate-Resilient School Infrastructure

Heat-resistant classrooms, shaded courtyards, solar-powered cooling, reliable water supply, and flood-proof buildings are essential to keep schools safely open.

2. Integrate Climate Education and Train Teachers Nationwide

Climate and gender-sensitive curricula must reach every classroom. Teacher training—already underway in India—must scale so educators can guide students through emergency situations and climate learning.

3. Bring Girls’ Voices Into Climate Policy

Girls understand climate impacts intimately. Their lived experiences must inform local and national policymaking.

4. Fund Gender-Responsive Climate and Education Initiatives

Donors and governments must prioritise dedicated funding streams that protect girls’ education in climate-vulnerable districts.

5. Expand Community-Led Safety and Preparedness Programmes

CSSP offers a blueprint, but without community involvement and national rollout, it cannot meet the scale of climate disruptions.

The Tug of War Between Heat and Hope

India’s unfolding crisis is a preview of what the world stands to lose if climate change accelerates unchecked. The stories emerging from Nashik, Nandurbar, Manila, and San Salvador are not isolated tragedies—they are warning signals from a generation forced to choose survival over schooling.

To safeguard the future of millions, India—and the world—must address climate change and simultaneously redesign education systems to withstand it. The futures of the most vulnerable, especially girls, cannot be collateral damage in a warming world. This is no longer just an educational emergency or a climate crisis; it is an existential threat demanding immediate, coordinated action.