In Pakistan, students are due to return to school in early August, except in the south of the country. School holidays are being extended by two weeks due to the heat. More than 100,000 schools are expected to remain closed in Sindh province, where temperatures have been climbing to 50 degrees in the summer in recent years.
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From our correspondent in Islamabad, Sonia Ghezali
Children of Sindh, in the south of Pakistanwill return to school on August 14, two weeks later than their peers in the rest of the country.
The authorities’ decision is being driven by scorching heat and increasingly heavy monsoon rains, which are expected. Summers are becoming increasingly unbearable in the southern Pakistani province, which has already suffered several heat waves since May. The thermometer has reached up to 51 degrees in some cities of this rural and poor province. The population faces power cuts that last up to 12 hours. Schools are not spared.
This province had been particularly affected by the devastating floods of August 2022which plunged a third of the country under water and claimed the lives of at least 1,700 people. The weather is scrutinized and feared in Pakistan, which is feeling the full brunt of the consequences of global warming while the country is responsible for less than 1% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Last May, the government closed schools for more than 26 million children in the country due to a heatwave.
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