Bangladesh on Monday ordered the closure of schools across the country until Thursday inclusive, due to a persistent heatwave, just a day after they reopened.
High Court judges pass order to close ‘all primary and secondary schools and madrassas [écoles religieuses] until Thursday due to the heat wave,” Deputy Attorney General Sheikh Saifuzzaman told AFP.
According to authorities, at least seven people have died due to the extreme heat since the beginning of April.
Government medical officer Kazi Abdul Momin said nine students and a teacher were taken to a clinic after feeling unwell.
“They might have felt unwell because of the heatwave,” he told AFP.
Temperatures reached more than 42°C last week in this country.
According to the National Weather Service, average maximum temperatures in Dhaka this week were 4-5°C higher than the 30-year average over the same period.
Maximum temperatures in the capital are expected to remain above 40°C until Thursday.
The government had just reopened schools on Sunday after an ordered closure on April 21.
“Keeping schools closed is difficult because children do not want to study at home,” mother Fatema Tuz Zohor told AFP on Sunday. “But how can they go to school in this heat? »
According to meteorologist Kazi Jebunnesa, the rain is expected to bring some respite after Thursday.
Meteorologist Muhammad Abul Kalam Mallik said Bangladesh has not experienced such a heat wave since records began in 1948.
“This is a record in terms of duration and coverage area in the country,” he told AFP, specifying that the scorching temperatures affected around three-quarters of the country.
Mallik said climate change and anthropogenic causes, including rapid urbanization, deforestation, diminishing water bodies and increased use of air conditioning, were to blame.
“We will see more heat waves this severe in the future,” he said.
Bangladesh’s 171 million people are on the front lines of the global climate crisis, regularly hit by powerful cyclones and more frequent and intense floods.