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Maryam Mushtaq

Attacks on Higher Education Surge Globally


A young student writes on a blackboard damaged by bullets
North Kivu, DRC, September 2023 (Photo credits: Education Under Attack)

The Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack (GCPEA) has released their Education Under Attack Report for the years 2022-2023. The report indicates a surge in attacks on schools, higher education institutions, students, staff, and faculty in the last two years. The countries with the highest levels of attacks on education include Palestine, Ukraine, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Myanmar. In 2022 and 2023, each of these countries experienced the looting, arson, and bombing of hundreds of schools. The report also indicates India, Pakistan, Palestine, and Afghanistan having high numbers of students and faculty casualties.

 

Countries which are currently experiencing conflict saw an increase in the number of attacks on education compared to the last two years, including Palestine, Sudan, Ukraine, Syria, and Nigeria. In 2023, schools were used as military bases in Sudan and Nigeria. In Palestine, attacks on education escalated in October 2023 with Israel’s invasion of Gaza, where nearly all educational activity has ceased. The escalation of the war in Ukraine, following Russia’s invasion in 2022, increased the attacks on schools and universities through shelling and airstrikes.

 

Most vulnerable and uniquely affected by attacks on education include students with disabilities, sexual and gender minorities.  Women and young girls experience gender-based violence and are subjected to gender-based exclusion of education. Notably in Pakistan and Afghanistan, female students and teachers are prevented from receiving education. In some cases, female students and teachers are subjected to sexual violence at, and on the way to and from educational institutions. Gender-based attacks have proven to be the most difficult to collect data on. The stigma of sexual violence is a major factor in limiting the reporting of these incidents.

 

Armed conflicts around the world have also contributed significantly to recruitment of students at and on their way to and from school into the militias. The GCPEA reports that students in Colombia, DRC, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen are recruited as “fighters or spies, for domestic work, or to transport weapons or other materials” (18). According to the GCPEA report, fear of recruitment has prevented students from attending schools as Yemen, Syria, and the DRC.

 

While attacks on education surged globally, the good news is that the Central African Republic (CAR), Libya, Mali, and Mozambique witnessed a decrease compared to 2020 and 2021 due to efforts made to de-escalate ongoing conflicts. Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Colombia, Niger, Nigeria, Sudan, Ukraine, and Yemen have also taken steps to address attacks on education by signing decrees and declarations.

 

Endangered Scholars Worldwide (ESW) is deeply concerned with the ongoing armed conflicts around the world and its effects on access to education and academic freedom. Amid the terror and violence of civil war and radical militant groups, state and non-state actors have disproportionately targeted schools, universities, students, and scholars, violating their rights to education and freedom of expression. Therefore, ESW follows the recommendation of GCPEA to call on state and non-state actors to sign and implement the Safe Schools Declaration to safeguard education, to monitor and report attacks on education, hold perpetrators to account and provide assistance to survivors, and plan for mitigating the impacts of attacks on education.



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