South Sudan has ordered all schools to close for two weeks after an extreme heat wave caused students to collapse in class. The closure begins Friday and comes as temperatures are expected to reach 42 degrees Celsius, or 108 degrees Fahrenheit.
The decision follows reports that an average of 12 students a day have been collapsing in the capital, Juba, according to Deputy Education Minister Martin Tako Moi. The scale of the response reflects both the severity of the heat and the fragility of school buildings, many of which are makeshift iron-sheet structures without electricity or cooling.
Officials are also changing the wider rhythm of public life. The excerpt says public institutions will operate on a half-day schedule for the next two weeks, and environment officials urged residents to stay indoors and drink water. Health officials similarly told parents to keep children inside, avoid outdoor activity during peak heat and hydrate before thirst becomes a problem.
The closure is not unprecedented. South Sudan took a similar step in March last year when temperatures rose above 40 degrees Celsius. That repetition matters because it shows the country is confronting not a one-off weather event but a recurring climate stress that repeatedly disrupts schooling and public services.
Civil society groups argue the government should have been better prepared. Integrity South Sudan accused officials of lacking contingency plans and said repeated closures reveal a failure to prioritize children’s education. Education workers have suggested adjusting the school calendar so the term ends during the hottest months and resumes when temperatures drop.
The broader context is stark. South Sudan is one of the world’s youngest countries and is already highly vulnerable to climate change, with droughts and floods compounding years of conflict. In that setting, a heat wave is not just a weather story; it is a governance, education and public-health problem all at once. The school closures highlight how climate stress can collide with weak infrastructure. In a country where many classrooms are simple metal structures without cooling, heat becomes more than an inconvenience; it becomes a direct threat to attendance and safety.
The repeated need for emergency closures also strengthens the case for calendar changes. Rather than treating each heat wave as an isolated disruption, officials and educators are being pushed toward a longer-term adjustment that reflects local weather patterns. The source suggests that argument is becoming harder to avoid.
The response shows how climate adaptation is becoming part of education policy. If extreme heat repeatedly shuts schools, then the school calendar itself may need to change, which is a more structural response than simply waiting for the next emergency order.
The country’s repeated closures show that adaptation is now part of everyday governance. In that context, changing the calendar is not a minor administrative tweak but a way to reduce repeated interruptions to learning and make the system less reactive.
In practice, that would also give schools and families more predictability. Rather than closing reactively every time temperatures spike, the system could be organized around the climate it actually faces.
