Severe flooding across four countries in West and Central Africa has forced around 10 million children out of school, according to international charity Save the Children. The organisation reported on Tuesday that heavy rains in Nigeria, Mali, Niger, and the Democratic Republic of Congo have displaced nearly one million people.
The charity’s statement highlighted the impact of the extreme weather, stating, “The unprecedented rains… have created a worsening education crisis with the damage or destruction of schools, the occupation of school buildings by displaced families, and the displacement of families away from schools.”
Save the Children further noted that these severe weather events are increasingly frequent due to the global climate crisis and called on governments to provide immediate educational alternatives for affected children. The charity also urged measures to strengthen the resilience of schools against future climate-related disasters.
In addition, Save the Children appealed to donors to increase aid for the affected populations, stressing the need for urgent assistance.
The charity explained that 10 million children are unable to attend school due to flooding, in addition to 36 million children already out of school in these four countries, as estimated by UNESCO. These existing challenges are primarily due to conflict and poverty, with over 20 million children in Nigeria alone—the continent’s most populous nation.
Since the beginning of the rainy season, torrential downpours have triggered widespread flooding, resulting in hundreds of deaths and the displacement of hundreds of thousands across Chad, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Guinea, and Cameroon. The floods have also severely damaged infrastructure and agricultural land, increasing the risk of disease outbreaks and food insecurity.
Save the Children has called on national governments to phase out fossil fuel use and subsidies rapidly as part of global efforts to combat climate change.