Navruz Erkaev, Spain
Climate change impacts the education for all – students and pupils. Since I recently moved to Valencia, Spain, I have witnessed myself how. For more than 30 hours, the city was covered by the clouds full of rain and the Emergency Committee of the Valencian Region has declared that the all departments of education, including schools and universities should be closed due to the risks of the floods and rains. Last year, climate change and extreme floods have had a big impact on education in Valencian Region as this year. At the end of 2024, devastating storms led to the closure of all educational institutions in the city for more than 36 hours, as a result of which more than 50,000 students were injured, and almost 11,000 remained out of school for a month due to severe damage to buildings and prolonged evacuation. Many schools were destroyed or rendered unusable, students were assigned to temporary facilities or transferred to distance learning, and the slow rebuilding process led to overcrowding and organizational difficulties for the host institutions. Teachers and families faced uncertainty and psychological stress as they carried out cleaning and restoration work on their own.