Temperature and Schooling: How Heat Shapes Primary Learning in West and Central Africa (WP-25-21)
Yabo Gwladys Vidogbena, Risto Conte Keivabu, Julia Behrman, and Liliana Andriano
While existing evidence suggests that heat negatively affects learning across diverse global settings, its impact in Africa is under-studied—largely due to the limited availability of nationally representative, comparable micro-data on learning. This paper addresses this gap by combining georeferenced temperature data with standardized reading and math scores from eight West and Central African countries in the Programme on the Analysis of Education Systems. The researchers find that exposure to high temperatures significantly reduces learning outcomes for students at the beginning and end of primary school, with effect sizes that are large relative to findings from other world regions. Additional analyses suggest that heat may indirectly affect learning by shifting students’ time away from schooling and toward labor. While they observe little variation in the overall effect of heat by socioeconomic status (SES) or gender, the researchers find that extreme heat (above 33° C) has a disproportionately negative impact on higher-SES students. They interpret this as evidence of an erosion of compensatory advantage—wherein wealthier students who are typically buffered against adversity may be more impacted to learning disruptions under extreme heat.