Education Under Fire

On today’s International Day to Protect Education from Attack, Education Cannot Wait calls for an immediate end to attacks on schools and for adherence to International Humanitarian Law and the Safe Schools Declaration. Attacks against schools are among the six grave violations affecting children the most in times of war.

Attacks on education continue to escalate across the globe. Between 2022 and 2023, the United Nations registered approximately 6,000 attacks targeting students, educators and educational institutions. During this same period, the use of schools for military purposes rose by 20%. Even worse, over 10,000 students were killed, abducted, arrested or harmed in these attacks.  

Grave violations of children’s human rights are rising. The UN Secretary-General's Annual Report on Children and Armed Conflict (2024) “verifies a staggering 41,370 incidents, the highest number of grave violations against children in armed conflict since the inception of the Children and Armed Conflict mandate almost 30 years ago.”

The highest numbers of grave violations were verified in “Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory (8,554), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (4,043), Somalia (2,568), Nigeria (2,436) and Haiti (2,269). The sharpest percentage increases in the number of violations were verified in Lebanon (545%), Mozambique (525%), Haiti (490%), Ethiopia (235%) and Ukraine (105%).” During this same year, attacks on schools rose by 44%, and rape and other forms of sexual violence jumped by 34%.  

We can do better. We must do better. To keep hope alive for children living on the frontlines of these brutal conflicts, Education Cannot Wait (ECW) and our strategic partners are investing in lifesaving education support across the globe. This includes mental health and psychosocial support, protective learning environments, specialized training for teachers, rebuilt classrooms, school feeding and more.  

Just weeks before the start of the academic year, the Vasylkivka Support Lyceum No. 1 school in Ukraine was hit by a missile on 19 August at 5:00 am. The school receives financial support through the ECW Multi-Year Resilience Programme in Ukraine. Fortunately, no casualties were registered in the attack. But the school, which provides education to 685 students, sustained significant damage. It is just one of more than 1,600 education institutions in Ukraine that have been damaged or destroyed during the war, according to UNICEF.

Despite the substantive damage from the attack – which blew out portions of external walls, the ceiling, exit doors, windows, the electric supply and heating radiators – the staff and community of the Vasylkivka Support Lyceum No. 1 school remain committed to reopening the school. Their bold acts of courage are a testament to us all to call for an immediate end to the violent and horrific attacks on schools happening every day across the globe, and an immediate scaling up of international funding for education. Our investment in their education today is an investment in a more peaceful tomorrow for everyone.