Education under attack

When students and teachers become targets

During the years 2020 and 2021, there were more than 5,000 reported attacks on education, including military use of schools and universities. These attacks harmed more than 9,000 students and teachers.

According to the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack (GCPEA) and the report Education under Attack 2022, there are widespread attacks on education worldwide.

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) works in some of the hardest hit countries. Our colleagues see every day how attacks on education not only harm individual students and teachers, but also how they affect communities for years afterwards.

“Attacks on schools and students are attacks on the future of a country. Not only do they destroy children’s opportunities to learn and develop, but they can also cause psychosocial problems,” says Annelies Ollieuz, Global Education Lead at NRC.

With buildings and teaching materials destroyed, and students and teachers living in fear, schools and universities in conflict zones are often forced to close. Some students never resume their education, impeding their long-term development.

This article was first published on 9 September 2021, and was updated on 8 September 2022.

How you can help:

With your support, we can renovate damaged schools and build new ones. At the same time, we work to create safe spaces for learning, prevent attacks on schools and keep schools from being used for military purposes.

Here are ten things you should know about attacks on education: 

GAZA. Palestinian students inspect a classroom destroyed by Israeli air strikes during the 11-day escalation of violence between Israel and Hamas in May 2021. Some 66 children were killed during the bombing. Photo: Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto/Shutterstock/NTB

#1: Bombing, killing and rape 

The Education under Attack report tracks seven types of attacks on education:

  • attacks on schools
  • attacks on students, teachers and other education personnel
  • military use of schools and universities
  • child recruitment at, or on the way to or from, school
  • sexual violence at, or on the way to or from, school or university
  • attacks on higher education
  • targeted attacks on girls and women
AFGHANISTAN: Nazir, 13, rides past his school, which was destroyed by a car bomb in November 2020. NRC rebuilt the destroyed classrooms, but the school was attacked and destroyed again in June 2021. Photo: Enayatullah Azad/NRC

#2: On average six attacks every day

More than 11,000 separate attacks on education facilities, students and educators took place between 2015 and 2019.

In the 2020-2021 period, there were 5,000 reported attacks, which is an increase from previous years. This is an average of six attacks on education or incidents of military use – every day.

YEMEN. Students sit on the ground inside a half-collapsed building at Shuhada-Alwahdah School in southern Yemen. Photo: Mohammed Mohammed/Xinhua/NTB

#3: Attacks in 85 countries

At least 85 countries experienced attacks on education in 2020-2021, an increase from the 71 countries in 2018-2019. See the map of the most affected countries.

BURKINA FASO. Children practise security drills at a school in Burkina Faso, to prepare for potential attacks by armed groups. Photo: Sam Mednick/AP/NTB

#4: New countries  

Attacks on education have emerged in several new countries over the past few years. In 2020-2021, Mozambique and Azerbaijan started experiencing attacks. 

SYRIA. Children play in the yard of a school that was partially destroyed during battles in Syria's Idlib governorate. Photo: Ibrahim Yasouf/AFP/NTB

#5: The hardest hit countries

The countries that experienced the highest number of attacks on education in 2020-2021 were Mali and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In countries like Palestine and Mali, the attacks declined during the closing of schools due to Covid-19. However, this trend was only temporary, and the countries experienced an escalation of attacks once the schools were reopened.

NIGER. Abubakar Tegina, head teacher and school owner, explains how armed men gained access to his school in Niger in August 2021. Photo: Afolabi Sotunde/REUTERS/NTB

#6: Students and teachers suffer direct attacks

Students and educators were most frequently harmed by direct attacks in India, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Turkey. On December 11, 2020, a school in Nigeria experienced an incident where 344 students were abducted, and a security guard killed. In total, more than 1,000 students were abducted from schools in Nigeria between December 2020 and September 2021.

YEMEN. A Yemeni man stands next to blood stains at the scene of a bomb attack at a university campus in the capital Sana’a, in May 2016. Photo: Mohammed Huwais/AFP/NTB

#7: Higher education under attack

One-fourth of attacks on education are directed against higher education facilities. There were over 320 reported attacks on higher education in 2020-2021. In the same period, over 2,030 higher education students and staff were injured, killed, abducted or arrested.

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC (CAR). A Senegalese soldier from the United Nations mission in CAR takes position to respond to heavy gunfire at a school in Bangui where voters were gathered for the constitutional referendum in December 2015. Photo: Marco Longari/AFP/NTB

#8: Schools are used for military purposes

A significant – and preventable – cause of attacks was the use of schools for military purposes. Armed forces, other state actors, and armed groups used schools and universities for military purposes in 24 countries between 2020 and 2021, including as bases, detention centres and weapons stores.

NIGERIA. Students from Tegina’s Salihu Tanko Islamic School, who were abducted by gunmen in June 2021, arrive at the government facility after their release in August. REUTERS/NTB

#9: Schools are used as recruiting grounds

Schools are also targeted to recruit children. Children were recruited at, or on the way to or from, schools in four countries in 2020-2021: Colombia, DR Congo, Mali and Yemen. The school closures during the Covid-19 pandemic led to a decreasing likelihood of child recruitment at schools or school routes. However, this decrease does not mean that child recruitment stopped, it rather moved to other arenas.

DR CONGO. Ombeni on her way to school with her four-year-old son Daniel. She was previously raped and held captive by an armed group over a period of months. She is now in her final year at school and hopes to go on to college. Photo: Michael Macsweeney/REX/NTB

#10: Girls and women are being targeted

Attacks on education have specific impacts on female students and educators. The GCPEA found that women and girls were targeted due to their gender in attacks on education in at least 11 countries in 2020 and 2021.

Pregnancy from rape, the health consequences and stigma of sexual violence, the risk of early marriage, and the privileging of boys’ education over girls’, all make it particularly difficult for girls to return to school.