Mexico canceled the last 40 days of the school calendar over an incoming heatwave and disruptions caused by the men’s soccer World Cup, potentially risking the prospects of tens of millions of children whose education was already upended by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The state of schooling in the country remains weak: The average number of education years in Mexico is significantly fewer than comparable countries in Latin America, which themselves trail rich nations.

The quality of education in the region remains lackluster too, with post-pandemic test scores decreasing markedly, risking further exacerbating inequalities across Latin America, the Inter-American Development Bank warned in a recent report.