DHAKA: A Bangladeshi court ordered a nationwide shutdown of schools on Monday due to an ongoing heat wave, one day after the government sent millions of children back to class despite searing temperatures.

Extensive scientific research has found climate change is causing heat waves to become longer, more frequent and more intense.

Average temperatures in Dhaka over the past week have been 4-5 degrees Celsius higher than the 30-year average for the same period.

The government said seven people had died as a result of the extreme heat since the start of this month, with maximum temperatures in the capital forecast to remain above 40 degrees until Thursday.

A two-judge bench of the High Court passed an order “closing all primary and secondary schools and madressahs... due to the heat wave,” deputy attorney general Sheikh Saifuzzaman said.

He said the court passed the order after it was told by lawyers that several teachers had died in the heat wave.

Bangladesh follows the Sunday-Thursday work week. The order directs schools to remain closed for an estimated 32 million students until the coming Sunday.

The government had imposed a week-long national school closure beginning on April 21 as the heat wave persisted, but lifted the order over the weekend.

Classes had resumed in Dhaka on Sunday with anxious relatives accompanying their children to the school gates.

Published in Dawn, April 30th, 2024