South Sudan is closing all schools from Monday in anticipation of an extreme heatwave expected to last two weeks.
The health and education ministries have advised parents to keep all their children indoors as temperatures are expected to rise to 45C (113F).
They warned that any school deemed open during the warning period would have their registration withdrawn, but the statement released on Saturday evening did not specify how long schools would remain closed.
The ministries said they “will continue to monitor the situation and inform the public accordingly.”
Peter Garang, who lives in the capital, Juba, welcomed the decision. He said schools should be connected to the electricity grid to allow the installation of air conditioners.
South Sudan, one of the world’s youngest countries, is particularly vulnerable to the climate crisis with heatwaves frequent but rarely exceeding 40°C (104F). Civil conflict is ravaging the East African country, which is also suffering from drought and floods, making living conditions difficult.
The World Food Program, in its latest country briefing, said South Sudan “continues to face a serious humanitarian crisis” due to violence, economic instability, climate change and of the influx of people fleeing the conflict in neighboring Sudan. He also said that 818,000 vulnerable people received food and cash transfers in January.