South Sudan shuts down schools after students collapse due to extremely high calories

Juba, South Sudan (AP) – South Sudan announced on Thursday that all schools were closed for two weeks due to the ongoing extreme heat waves that caused some students to collapse.

This is the second time the country faces extreme effects of climate change, including floods during the rainy season – schools were closed amid the heat waves in February and March.

“On average 12 students are closed in Juba City every day,” Deputy Education Minister Martin Tako Moi said on Thursday.

Most schools in South Sudan have temporary structures made of iron paper and there is no electricity to power the cooling system.

Environment Minister Josephine Napwon Cosmos urged residents to stay indoors and drink water on Thursday as temperatures are expected to be as high as 42 degrees Celsius (107.6 degrees Fahrenheit).

Napwon proposed that government employees “work shifts” to avoid hot air.

Educators have urged the government to consider revising the school calendar so that schools can close in February and recover when temperatures drop.

Abraham Kuol Nyuon, dean of Juba's graduate school, told the Associated Press that the calendar should be positioned based on weather in 10 states.

A civil society group South Sudan’s integrity group accused the government of lack of proper plans and contingency plans, saying schools closures during the heat wave showed “failure to prioritize education for children in South Sudan”.

The country's health system is fragile due to political instability. Nearly 400,000 people were killed between 2013 and 2018, when President Salva Kiir signed a peace agreement and its rivals turned Riek Machar.

The elections in South Sudan were scheduled to be held last year and were postponed for two years due to lack of funds.

The country has been facing an economic crisis due to disruption of oil exports after the neighboring country's war-torn Sudan was ruthlessly violently pipelined. The pipe was repaired later.