COLOMBO, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) on Friday announced it's working closely with Sri Lanka to create a climate-smart education system for the country.
In an online post, UNICEF said it is working with Sri Lanka's Ministry of Education and other partners to design the system that is resilient to the impacts of climate change.
According to UNICEF, floods in Sri Lanka disrupted the education of 515,306 students in 2024. Globally, at least 242 million students across 85 countries and territories faced interruptions to their schooling due to extreme climate events such as heatwaves, tropical cyclones, storms, floods, and droughts that year, worsening an already critical learning crisis.
"Education is a right and must not become a casualty of climate change," the UN agency said.
UNICEF highlighted the need for urgent action by Sri Lanka to ensure that school infrastructure is disaster-resilient and climate-smart, remote learning systems are operational, and climate change education is incorporated into curriculums. ■
