Other studies have found associations between air pollution and lower attendance and academic achievement rates in school.89 Children are more susceptible to air pollution than adults as their lungs, brains and immune systems are still developing and their respiratory tracks are more permeable. Young children also breathe faster than adults, take in more air relative to their body weight, and are more likely to spend longer periods of time outdoors and to engage in vigorous activities. The most socially and economically disadvantaged, who already tend to have poorer health and inadequate access to health services, are the most vulnerable.90 Acute respiratory infection has been identified as one of the top three causes of under-5 child mortality in the Philippines,91 with 46 per cent of these deaths attributed to indoor household pollution largely caused by the burning of solid fuels such as firewood and coal for cooking and heating.92 Outdoor air pollution is caused by forest fires, slash-and-burn agriculture, waste-burning and transportation.93 Preliminary studies suggest that urban poor children in informal settlements and indigenous children from rural areas are the most affected by dirty air, although evidence and analysis is lacking.94 In Manila, the annual average of fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) stands at 17µg, 70 per cent higher than levels recommended by the WHO.95 Studies have found that, along with jeepney drivers, children in Manila face the greatest exposure to vehicular pollution, with a particularly high prevalence of respiratory symptoms found among child vendors.96 In the context of rapid urbanisation, climate-related increases in temperature and the incidence of wildfires, challenges in enforcing national air quality standards, and a lack of provision for more sustainable alternatives to the principal sources of indoor and outdoor air pollution, increasing numbers of children will be at risk – both from the direct and immediate impacts of pollutants on their health, and as a consequence of their overall vulnerability to the impacts of climate change, to which many of these emissions simultaneously contribute. 4.3 Right to Education Climate change has been recognised as an emerging and persistent barrier to achieving universal education attainment in the Philippines.97 The impacts of climate change on children’s right to education are manifold, including extreme weather events that destroy infrastructure and disrupt school attendance, inadequate nutrition undermining children’s ability to concentrate, loss of school days due to climate-related physical and mental health impacts, and links between climate pressures on household incomes, low educational attainment, and higher dropout rates.98 Typhoon Haiyan damaged or destroyed almost 3,200 schools and day care centres, while a large number of schools were taken over as evacuation centres, resulting in a sudden disruption in education for more than a million pre-school and school-age students.99;100 In addition to these challenges, additional barriers for children resuming education included displacement, the cost of transport and replacing materials, and psychological trauma.101 More broadly, the Government has identified damages incurred from disasters as one of the key causes of a shortage of classrooms and school materials, citing these shortages as critical challenges to the Philippines’ educational system.102 Studies conducted elsewhere have demonstrated a clear correlation between the impacts of climate-related disasters and young children’s cognitive capacity, including effects on language development, memory and spatial reasoning.103 In addition, for children displaced or otherwise severely affected by climate-related events, behavioural issues and negative impacts on attendance, performance, suspension, expulsion and drop-out rates have been observed, even several years after the event has taken place.104 Although enrolment rates in