Pakistani students bear brunt of climate change

Pakistan's children are losing weeks of education each year to school closures caused by climate change-linked extreme weather, prompting calls for a radical rethink of learning schedules.

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Searing heat, toxic smog and unusual cold snaps have all caused closures that are meant to spare children the health risks of learning in classrooms that are often overcrowded and lack basic cooling, heating or ventilation systems.

In May, a nationwide heatwave saw temperatures up to seven degrees Celsius above normal, hitting 45°C in Punjab and prompting several provinces to cut school hours or start summer holidays early.

"The class becomes so hot that it feels like we are sitting in a brick kiln," said 17-year-old Hafiz Ehtesham outside an inner city Lahore school. "I don't even want to come to school."

Pakistan is among the countries most vulnerable to climate change, with limited resources for adaptation, and extreme weather is compounding an existing education crisis caused mostly by access and poverty.

"Soon we will have major cognitive challenges because students are being impacted by extreme heat and extreme smog over long periods of time," said Lahore-based education activist Baela Raza Jamil.

"The poorest are most vulnerable. But climate change is indeed a great leveller and the urban middle class is also affected."