South Sudan: Classrooms empty for weeks as temperatures hit 40C

The Irish Examiner travelled to South Sudan to meet with some of the 1.1m refugees who have fled across the border from civil war in Sudan. Women, children and men all shared stories of pain but also of their hope for something better in their futures

School principal Santino Garang and teacher Daniel Deng at Salvation Primary School in South Sudan, which is currently closed due to a heatwave. Picture: Eugene Ikol Concern

Mon, 24 Mar, 2025 - 01:00

Niamh Griffin in South Sudan

The classrooms at Salvation Primary School were empty for weeks this year because of a shock heatwave. Daily temperatures soared to 40C in South Sudan.

Some 1,300 students should have thronged the small school, in the state of Northern Bahr El Ghazal, on the day that the Irish Examiner visited.