El Niño Practical Guidance for the Education Sector
2026–2027
Highlights
Climate-related hazards disrupted schooling for at least 171 million students worldwide in 2025. For late 2026, more than 347 million children in nearly 100 countries and territories live in areas where El Niño is forecast to bring unusually wet or dry conditions. The window to prepare is now.
We cannot prevent El Niño, but we can act early to protect learning. Yet education is still too often overlooked in emergency preparedness — despite its life-saving and life-changing role in protecting children, supporting their well-being and safeguarding their futures.
UNICEF and Save the Children have joined forces to address this gap through practical guidance for the education sector. It combines system-level recommendations with hazard-specific actions, covering how to integrate climate risks into education planning, identify schools and learners most at risk, strengthen contingency and learning continuity arrangements, and prepare the coordination, forecast triggers and financing needed for anticipatory action. It also addresses response and recovery.
Explore the guidance for practical ways to strengthen education preparedness, plan for anticipatory action and protect learning continuity before, during and after El Niño-related hazards — helping build more resilient education systems.
Anticipate disruption. Protect learning.
