Climate-exposed but not climate-literate? Secondary students' climate change understandings in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo

Climate change education is increasingly recognised as essential for preparing young people to understand environmental risks and engage in mitigation and adaptation responses. However, exposure to climate information does not necessarily produce scientifically structured climate literacy. This study examines secondary students' climate change understandings in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, using survey data from 500 science-track students at Nganga Edouard High School. A quantitative descriptive survey design was used, combining closed and open-ended questionnaire responses analysed through frequency analysis, categorical coding and exploratory chi-square tests based on aggregated exposure data. The study focused on students' exposure to climate information, sources of learning, knowledge of causes and consequences, mitigation responses, misconceptions and proposed awareness strategies. Results show that 76.4% of participants had heard about climate change, mainly through television and radio rather than formal schooling. Students identified deforestation, greenhouse gas emissions, pollution, rising temperatures, erosion and environmental degradation as climate-related issues. However, their responses also revealed fragmented knowledge and persistent misconceptions, especially confusion between climate change, ozone layer depletion, pollution and general environmental degradation. Exposure differed significantly by educational level and stream, while gender differences were not statistically significant in the aggregated data. The paper argues that students were climate-exposed but not yet fully climate-literate. These findings highlight the need for curriculum-based climate change education, teacher development and locally grounded learning resources in climate-vulnerable education systems. They also show why schools must transform informal awareness into structured conceptual understanding for informed climate action in vulnerable urban African contexts, locally and beyond.