In Kenya's ASAL Counties, the Learning Crisis Is a Climate Crisis
In Kenya's arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs), the learning crisis cannot be separated from the climate crisis. Drought, floods, extreme heat, water scarcity and food insecurity repeatedly interrupt schooling, weaken children's ability to learn and push families into choices that keep children out of the classroom. Any serious effort to improve learning must therefore treat climate resilience as part of education policy, not as a separate humanitarian concern.
- Climate Shocks Reach the Classroom. ASAL counties are defined by low and irregular rainfall, limited water resources and livelihoods that depend heavily on livestock and rain-fed production. These conditions make education especially vulnerable to environmental shocks. When drought destroys pasture and water sources, families migrate with their herds, taking children away from fixed schools and disrupting attendance.
- The effects are both direct and indirect. Floods can damage classrooms, cut off roads and bridges, destroy learning materials and make school routes unsafe. Drought can leave schools without reliable water, interrupt feeding programmes and expose children to hunger, dehydration and waterborne illness. Extreme heat makes classrooms uncomfortable and reduces children's capacity to concentrate.
- Hunger Undermines Learning. A child who is hungry cannot learn effectively. In drought-affected areas, reduced food availability and interrupted school meals affect attendance, concentration and participation. Research on climate change and education in Turkana found that crop failures, loss of livelihoods and hunger were closely linked to absenteeism and reduced ability to learn.
- For pastoralist households, drought can also force children into work. Boys may be drawn into herding or searching for pasture, while girls often take on additional domestic responsibilities, including collecting water. These responsibilities compete directly with school attendance and study time.
- Water Scarcity Is an Education Issue. Water scarcity is often discussed as a health or livelihood problem, but in ASAL counties it is also an education problem. Schools without dependable water struggle to maintain sanitation, prepare meals and keep learners in class. Children who spend long hours fetching water lose instructional time, and girls face particular safety risks when travelling long distances to water points.
- Poor water and sanitation also increase illness. Diarrhoeal disease, dehydration and other climate-sensitive health problems can keep children out of school or reduce their ability to participate once there. In this way, a missing borehole, broken rainwater tank or unsafe toilet can become a barrier to literacy and numeracy.
- Displacement and Protection Risks. Climate shocks do not only disrupt lessons; they disrupt childhood. Drought and floods can displace families, separate children from caregivers and force households to prioritise immediate survival over education. Research in ASAL areas links extreme weather to migration, interrupted schooling, child neglect and weakened access to essential services.
- Girls face heightened risks during these periods. When household incomes fall and resources become scarce, girls may be more likely to be withdrawn from school, exposed to early marriage or required to take on unpaid care work. Boys may face pressure to enter labour or herding. These protection risks are education risks because they remove children from learning environments and undermine their future opportunities.
- Why Emergency Responses Are Not Enough. Kenya has developed climate policies, drought-management structures and education plans that recognise the need for resilience. Yet responses often remain reactive: support arrives after children have already missed school, migrated or dropped out. A system that waits for crisis to become visible will always be responding too late.
- Education planning in ASAL counties must therefore anticipate recurring shocks. This means identifying high-risk schools before drought or floods intensify, pre-positioning learning materials, maintaining water infrastructure and ensuring that schools have contingency plans for closures, displacement and damaged facilities.
- Building Climate-Resilient Schools. A climate-resilient education system in ASAL counties should combine practical services with strong teaching. School feeding, safe water, sanitation, shade and ventilation, secure classrooms and accessible routes to school are not extras; they are foundations for learning. Where families move seasonally, flexible learning arrangements and community-based education can help children remain connected to school.
- Schools can also serve as community hubs for climate learning. A locally relevant curriculum should help learners understand changing weather patterns, water conservation, environmental protection and practical adaptation. When children understand the forces shaping their communities, schools become places not only of academic learning but also of resilience.
Related Articles
School Feeding Programmes Help Children in Kenya's ASAL Areas
School feeding programmes help children in Kenya's ASAL areas by turning food security into a foundation for learning
Why Kenya's Learning Crisis Demands a Different Approach
The country's real challenge is no longer only getting children through the school gate; it is ensuring that every child, especially those in arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs), learns meaningfully once inside.