In Pictures: These Children in War Zones Are Still Attending School

This story originally appeared on a BuzzFeedNews website.

Nearly 3.5 million school-aged children in Iraq are not receiving education and one in every five schools are out of use. In Syria, an estimated 2 million children are out of school. Meanwhile, South Sudan has one of the largest number of children who are not attending school at all. As millions of children in war zones are deprived of receiving an education, they are increasingly facing risks of early marriage, child labor, and recruitment into armed groups.

These photos, all from 2016, show children from war-torn countries continuing their education despite the ongoing conflicts around them.

Iraq

 Yemen

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A classroom in Sa’ad, Yemen, shows damage caused by conflict. © UNICEF/UN026956/Rajat Madhok

Syria

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Students at a primary school in Hujjaira, rural Damascus, have not been able to attend classes because of the damaged building. In Syria, 1 in 4 schools are damaged, destroyed, or occupied for military purposes or to host displaced families. © UNICEF/UN018882/Abdulaziz

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A boy stands in front of his school, which was flattened by a bombardment in Ainjara village in rural Aleppo, Syria. © UNICEF/UN018873/Khalil Alshawi

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Students return from school in eastern Aleppo. Judy, one of the students, told Unicef he goes to class every day, except when he hears the planes hovering in the sky. © UNICEF/UN034442/Rami Zayat

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In Syria’s Idlib province, two former teachers have transformed a cave into a school. Almost 120 children take classes in two shifts. © UNICEF/UN037962/Khalil Ashawi

South Sudan

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Chubat (right), a 12-year old South Sudanese student, sits with her friend in the burned ruins of her school in the Malakal Protection of Civilian site. The school had five classrooms and seven teachers. © UNICEF/UN018992/George