For millions of children around the world, getting an education already requires overcoming poverty, difficult journeys, climate risks, and limited school resources. Rising fuel and transportation costs linked to the Iran war could make those challenges even greater, particularly for families living in remote and low-income communities.
The effects may not look like the widespread school closures experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, the disruption can develop gradually. Higher transportation expenses, pressure on household budgets, and rising government costs can make regular school attendance increasingly difficult. Children in vulnerable communities across Asia and Africa could face some of the greatest risks.
A Difficult Journey to School on Cambodia’s Tonle Sap
Life around Cambodia’s Tonle Sap illustrates how transportation can determine whether a child receives an education. Families living in floating or waterside communities depend heavily on boats for everyday activities, including traveling to school.
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One 13-year-old girl did not enter a classroom until she was 10. While many Cambodian children begin school much earlier, her mother worried about the dangers involved in traveling across the water. She wanted her daughter to be able to swim before allowing her to make the journey.
Such concerns are understandable. Traveling across a large lake carries risks, especially for young children. Teachers at the girl’s school say that 10 students have drowned over the years.
Despite these dangers, students continue making the journey because boats are often their only practical connection to education.
Most mornings, gas-powered boats move between homes around Kampong Prahok, picking up children dressed in school uniforms. Students climb aboard while protecting their books and backpacks from the water. Some of the boats are operated by young people who are not much older than their passengers.
Every trip depends on fuel, making gasoline prices directly connected to school accessibility.
Rising Fuel Prices Create Another Education Barrier
The Iran war has contributed to concerns about energy supplies and rising fuel costs. For households already living with limited incomes, even relatively small increases in gasoline prices can have significant consequences.
A family that relies on a boat to send children to school cannot easily switch to walking, cycling, or public transportation. When gasoline becomes more expensive, parents must find additional money for each journey or reduce the number of trips they make.
Education can therefore become one of the expenses families struggle to maintain.
The same problem affects teachers. Educators working in remote communities may travel considerable distances to reach their classrooms. Rising transportation costs can make those journeys increasingly expensive, particularly when salaries remain unchanged.
If teachers cannot afford reliable transportation, schools may experience staff shortages, irregular classes, or reduced teaching hours. Students who already have limited access to education could consequently fall further behind.
Poor Families Face the Greatest Pressure
Global economic shocks rarely affect every household equally. Wealthier families usually have more financial flexibility to absorb higher transportation, food, and energy expenses. Poor households have fewer options.
When essential costs increase, families must make difficult choices about how to spend limited income. Food, housing, transportation, healthcare, and education all compete for the same household resources.
Children can suffer when education becomes financially difficult to maintain. Some may attend school less frequently, while others may leave altogether. Older children can also face pressure to work and contribute to household income.
The long-term consequences can be serious. Missing months or years of education can reduce literacy, employment opportunities, future earnings, and economic mobility. What begins as a temporary increase in transportation expenses can therefore influence a child’s future for decades.
Millions More Children Could Fall Into Poverty
The broader economic consequences of continued conflict could greatly expand the number of vulnerable children.
According to a recent United Nations Children’s Fund assessment cited in reporting on the crisis, a prolonged war could push as many as 23.4 million additional children into poverty by the end of the year. Around 80% of those children could be located in Africa and Asia.
These regions already contain communities where education systems struggle with inadequate infrastructure, teacher shortages, transportation difficulties, and limited public funding.
Additional poverty could deepen these existing problems.
Families experiencing sudden financial hardship may postpone school enrollment, reduce spending on supplies, or withdraw children from classrooms. Students may lack money for uniforms, books, meals, transportation, or other basic educational needs.
As poverty increases, the risk of educational inequality grows with it.
Governments Could Face Tough Budget Decisions
Families and teachers are not the only ones affected by higher energy prices. Governments also depend on fuel for transportation, electricity generation, public services, and economic activity.
When energy costs rise sharply, governments can face growing financial pressure. Countries that import large quantities of fuel may be especially vulnerable.
Higher government expenses can eventually affect education budgets. Authorities may have less money available for building classrooms, hiring teachers, providing school meals, purchasing educational materials, or operating transportation programs.
Developing economies often have limited fiscal space to respond to unexpected global shocks. Governments may need to balance education spending against other urgent priorities such as food assistance, healthcare, energy subsidies, infrastructure, and economic support.
Cuts or slower investment in education might not produce immediate headlines, but their effects can accumulate over time.
Climate Change Makes the Problem More Complicated
Communities around Tonle Sap are confronting another challenge at the same time: climate change.
Life on the lake has always been shaped by seasonal changes in water levels. Increasingly unpredictable floods and droughts can make transportation, fishing, household income, and school attendance harder to manage.
For children traveling by boat, changing water conditions can make an already difficult journey more dangerous. Families therefore face several overlapping pressures rather than a single problem.
Climate disruption can reduce income. Higher fuel prices can increase transportation expenses. Poverty can make school costs harder to afford. Together, these challenges create a cycle that can gradually push children away from education.
This illustrates why global conflicts can have consequences far beyond the countries directly involved.
Education Disruption Can Be Difficult to See
The COVID-19 pandemic produced a highly visible global education emergency. Schools closed, classrooms emptied, and hundreds of millions of students were affected almost simultaneously.
Economic disruption caused by war can operate differently.
There may be no single day when schools officially close. Instead, one student stops attending because transportation becomes too expensive. Another misses several days each week. A teacher struggles to reach a remote classroom. A government delays a school improvement project. Another family decides an older child needs to work instead of study.
Each individual decision may appear small. Across millions of households, however, these changes can create a major education crisis.
The danger is that policymakers may recognize the scale of the problem only after attendance declines and dropout rates begin rising.
Protecting Children From Global Economic Shocks
Keeping vulnerable children in school requires protecting the entire system surrounding their education.
Affordable transportation is particularly important in remote communities where children cannot simply walk to class. School meal programs can also reduce financial pressure on families while encouraging attendance.
Governments and international organizations may need to prioritize education spending even when national budgets become strained. Assistance targeted toward low-income households can help prevent temporary economic hardship from turning into permanent school dropout.
Safe transportation is equally important. In communities where students travel across lakes and rivers, better boats, safety equipment, trained operators, and reliable routes can reduce risks.
Education policy must also account for climate change. Infrastructure and transportation systems designed for predictable weather patterns may no longer be adequate as floods, droughts, and extreme weather become increasingly disruptive.
Frequently Asked Questions
How could the Iran war affect children’s education?
Rising fuel costs can increase transportation expenses, making it harder for children and teachers to reach schools regularly.
Why are poor families most affected by rising fuel prices?
Low-income families have limited budgets, so higher transportation and living costs can reduce the money available for education.
How many children could fall into poverty?
Estimates cited in the article suggest prolonged conflict could push up to 23.4 million additional children into poverty.
Which regions could face the greatest impact?
Children across Africa and Asia could face particularly serious effects because many vulnerable communities already experience poverty and education barriers.
Why is transportation important for children on Tonle Sap?
Many communities depend on boats for school transportation, making fuel prices and safe water travel critical for regular attendance.
Can rising fuel costs affect teachers too?
Yes. Higher transportation expenses can make commuting difficult for teachers, particularly those serving remote and rural schools.
How can governments protect children’s education?
Governments can support affordable transportation, protect education budgets, provide school meals, and offer financial assistance to vulnerable families.
Conclusion
The Iran war’s effects could reach far beyond the immediate conflict, creating economic pressures that threaten education for millions of children. Rising fuel prices can make school transportation more expensive while increasing financial pressure on families, teachers, and governments.
