Severe heatwaves in South Sudan have led to schools closing, with health and education ministries recommending indoor confinement and revoked registrations, highlighting the country’s dire humanitarian crisis.
All schools in South Sudan will be closed starting on Monday in anticipation of severe heatwaves that are predicted to linger for two weeks. With temperatures predicted to climb to 45C (113F), the health and education ministries have recommended parents to keep all children indoors.
The statement released late on Saturday did not say how long schools would closed, but it did threaten to revoke the registration of any school found to be open within the warning period.
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“We will continue to monitor the situation and inform the public accordingly,” the ministries declared.
Juba, the capital’s resident Peter Garang, applauded the decision. To install air conditioners, he continued, schools had to wired into the electrical system.
Being among the youngest countries in the world, South Sudan is especially susceptible to the climate problem, with frequent heatwaves that seldom reach temperatures beyond 40C (104F). Living conditions in the East African nation are severe because of civil strife, drought, and flooding.
South Sudan “continues to face a dire humanitarian crisis” as a result of war, economic instability, climatic change, and an influx of people fleeing the conflict in neighbouring Sudan, according to the World Food Programme’s most recent country brief. It also mentioned that in January, 818,000 individuals considered vulnerable received cash transfers and food.
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