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School’s out: How climate change threatens education

MANILA, Philippines – Game developer Moonton Games has partnered with the Philippine Esports Organization (PESO) and the Games and Amusement Board (GAB) to battle match-fixing, which is becoming prevalent in the esports industry.

“Game-fixing is a serious matter and one that we need to swiftly act upon. We at GAB furthermore intend to be proactive in addressing this illegal act because it poses a threat to the safety and welfare of professional esports players, most especially the youth. Together with Moonton [Games], we will be addressing these issues and reconvene wi th other esports bodies and concerned government agencies to ultimately enhance and implement more stringent rules in keeping the integrity of Philippine esports intact,” said GAB Chairman Atty. Richard Clarin.

Speaking to members of the media, Moonton league operations lead Matthew Chan, vowed that the game developer is not stopping at t he recently concluded investigation of match-fixing in the development league.

“Match-fixing is something we really want to lock down on. We plan to do a lot more initiatives in fighting match-fixing. We are working together with PESO and GAB, and we will be pursuing and doing more of this,” said Chan.

One such initiative that Moonton Games along with PESO will be putting into place is a seminar with teams, including managers, coaches and players, on the severity of match-fixing and other forms of cheating and how best to so-called “business opportunities” offered, especially to minor members of the organizations.

“We want to let our athletes know that when they are approached by someone, this is the proper protocol. What happened now, maybe the players didn’t know how to handle these kinds of situations. A simple PM (private message). A simple conversation, making money, for these kids, it’s a life-changing scenario and they wouldn’t know the actual repercussions if they entertained them,” said PESO executive director Marlon Marcelo.

PESO has also released their own sanctions to the involved players, with the organization having had debates about the severity and duration of the suspension for th e players but eventually decided on a three-year suspension, which mirrors Moonton’s sanction.

“Three years is a lifetime already for the esports industry. There were a lot of talks about how long the bans would be and the severity of the punishment. We should be very strict and make sure that these things do not happen again. At the end of the day, our athletes are also victims.  The biggest thing is we have to be able to catch these bad actors and punish them to the full extent of our laws,” clarified Marcelo.

BANGKOK, Thailand — Record-breaking heat last month that prompted governments in Asia to close schools offers fresh evidence of how climate change is threatening the education of millions of children.

The arrival of seasonal rains has now brought relief to some parts of the region, but experts warn the broader problem remains, and many countries are poorly prepared to handle the impacts of climate change on schooling.

Asia is warming faster than the global average, and climate change i s producing more frequent, longer, and more intense heatwaves.

But heat is not the only challenge.

A warmer atmosphere holds more moisture, which can result in heavy rains and flooding.

This can damage schools or put them out of commission while they are used as shelters.

Hot weather can also drive wildfires and spikes in air pollution, which have caused school closures everywhere from India to Australia.

“The climate crisis is already a rea lity for children in East Asia and Pacific,” the UN children’s agency UNICEF warned last year.

Mohua Akter Nur, 13, is living proof of that claim, sweltering in a one-room home in Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka after her school closed.

Intermittent electricity means she cannot even rely on a fan to cool the cramped dwelling.

“The heat is intolerable,” she told AFP last month.

“Our school is shut, but I can’t study at home.”

April marked the 11th straight month of record global heat, and the pattern is clear in Bangladesh, said Shumon Sengupta, country director for NGO Save the Children.

“Not only are the temperatures higher, the duration of the high temperatures is much longer,” he told AFP.

“Previously, few areas used to have these heatwaves, now the coverage of the country is much higher,” he added.

Schools across much of Asia are simply not equipped to deal with the growing consequences of climate change.

Bangladesh’s urban schools can be sturdy, but are often overcrowded, with little ventilation, said Sengupta.

In rural areas, corrugated metal roofs can turn classrooms into ovens, and electricity for fans is unreliable.

In Bangladesh and elsewhere, students often walk long distances to and from school, risking heatstroke in the process.

But closing schools comes with serious consequences, “particularly for children from poorer, vulnerable communities who do not have access to resources such as computers, internet and books,” said Salwa Aleryani, UNICEF’s health specialist for East Asia and the Pacific.

Those children “are also less likely to have better conditions at home to protect them during heatwaves”.

They may be left unsupervised by parents who cannot afford to stay home, and school closures put children at higher risk of child labour, child marriage and even trafficking, said Sengupta.

Climate change also threatens schooling indirectly.

UNICEF research in Myanmar found that crop shortages caused by rising temperatures and unpredictable rain caused families to pull children from school to help with work or because they could no longer afford fees.

Some wealthy countries in the region have taken steps to protect children’s education in the face of a changing climate.

In Japan, fewer than half of all public schools had air conditioning in 2018, but that figure jumped to over 95 percent by 2022 after a series of heatwaves.

Not all impacts can be mitigated, however, even in developed economies.

Australian authorities have repeatedly closed schools because of wildfires, and research has found long-term impacts on learning among students whose communities were worst affected.

Developing countries in the region need help to invest in upgrading infrastructure, said Sengupta, but the only real solution to the crisis lies in tackling the root cause: climate change.

“It’s very important for government and policymakers to really, really wake up on this,” he said.

“The climate crisis is a child crisis. Adults are causing the crisis, but it’s children who are impacted the most.”

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