Research Article | Climate-induced educational disruption: Evidence on multidimensional assessment from the Haor Region of North-Eastern Bangladesh

Abstract

Educational disruption due to a changing climate remains underexplored in flood-prone regions, particularly where communities face additional socioeconomic stress. This study assesses educational vulnerability in Tahirpur, a flash-flood-prone area of Sunamganj, Bangladesh. A total of 304 respondents affiliated with 24 educational institutions were surveyed to assess vulnerability across three dimensions and adaptive capacity across four categories. The analysis employed Spearman’s rank correlation and the Kruskal–Wallis test, followed by Bonferroni-adjusted Mann–Whitney U post hoc comparisons. A significant inverse relationship was identified between overall adaptive capacity and overall vulnerability (ρ = −0.928, p < .001). Environmental vulnerability showed the strongest decline with increasing adaptive capacity (ρ = −0.857), followed by sociocultural vulnerability (ρ = −0.785), whereas the relationship with economic vulnerability was comparatively weaker (ρ = −0.546). The findings indicate that higher institutional adaptive capacity was associated with lower vulnerability across all three dimensions. Furthermore, routine maintenance, infrastructure readiness, environmental hygiene, disaster training, planning integration, and information systems were the adaptive capacity indicators most strongly associated with overall institutional adaptive capacity. These findings demonstrate that educational disruption is a complex issue that extends beyond a simple relationship with poverty and disaster exposure in climate-vulnerable settings. The evidence contributes to the development of a climate-responsive institutional framework for integrating education into disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation policies through improved planning, financing, and community-linked preparedness systems.