How Bangladesh is future-proofing education against climate change

Bangladesh is one of the world’s most climate-vulnerable countries – and its children are often pay the price. Floods, cyclones, heatwaves, and prolonged monsoon seasons regularly force school closures, destroy infrastructure, and hamper the education of tens of thousands of students. When disasters strike, schools often become emergency shelters for displaced families, turning temporary disruptions into months-long disruptions learning.

In response, the Climate Smart Education Systems Initiative (CSESI) is working with Bangladesh to build an education system that can withstand these pressures. The initiative focuses on embedding climate change adaptation and environmental sustainability into the education sector planning, shifting the country from reactive crisis management to long-term structural resilience.

A pivotal milestone came earlier this year, when senior government officials, development partners, and education stakeholders gathered in Dhaka to launch a national coordination plan under CSESI. The meeting, in January 2026, drew representatives from the Ministry of Education, international partners including UNESCO and Save the Children, and the newly established CSESI National Working Committee – a cross-government body spanning 22 ministries and directorates. Shohail Bin Saifullah, Manager, Climate Smart Education Systems Initiative says the meeting was a watershed moment: “It was a formal acknowledgement that climate change is not only an environmental crisis, but a direct threat to education.”

Bangladesh has built considerable capacity to address climate change through the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief and the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. Yet the education sector has historically operated at the margins of these efforts. The January coordination meeting sought to close this gap, forging stronger ties across ministries and ensuring that education features prominently in national climate resilience strategies.

Government officials were clear: given Bangladesh’s acute exposure to climate disasters, preparing the education system for future shocks is urgent. “There were a number of key themes that emerged from the meeting,” Bin Saifullah says, “including the need for stronger institutional coordination, evidence-based investment in climate-resilient school infrastructure, and expanded access to climate finance for the education sector.”

Participants also highlighted the importance of aligning these efforts with the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 4 (Quality Education) and SDG 13 (Climate Action).

The Climate Smart Education Systems Initiative is providing the architecture for this collaboration. Central to this is the formation of a Climate Change Education Coordination Taskforce – a dedicated body that will drive cross-sectoral engagement, coordinate planning, and translate political commitment into concrete action across ministries and partner organisations.

Together, these measures are designed to significantly strengthen Bangladesh’s capacity to absorb and recover from climate disruptions to education. Improved coordination, more robust institutional frameworks, and smarter planning processes will form the foundation of an education system that can keep children learning, even when the next flood or cyclone hits.

For those working on this initiative, the most significant change may be the shift in mindset: education is no longer an afterthought in climate policy discussions.

“We see a lot of momentum across the country,” Bin Saifullah says. “We know that as the effects of climate change worsen, we will need to ensure our education systems are on the frontlines of resilience. Thankfully, that process has already started.”