Research shows: More than 10,000 dead or injured in growing global attacks on education

More than 10,000 students, teachers and academics were killed or injured in thousands of attacks on education in 2022 and 2023, according to a study released Thursday, which came amid Israel’s ongoing assault on the Gaza Strip, where schools and universities have been severely damaged by Israel’s US-backed bombing campaign.

The Global Coalition to Protect Education From Attack (GCPEA) recorded around 6,000 attacks on education in 2022 and 2023, a 10% increase compared to the previous two years. Most attacks took place in occupied Palestine, Ukraine, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Myanmar, and about a third of the attacks involved explosive weapons – including rockets and landmines.

“In places like Gaza, not only are lives being taken at a terrible cost, but education itself is under attack,” Lisa Chung Bender, executive director of the GCPEA, said in a statement. “School and university systems have been closed and in some cases completely destroyed. This will have long-term consequences for social and economic recovery, as the very infrastructure necessary for peace and stability has been targeted.”

Researchers at the GCPEA estimate that there were more than 475 attacks on schools in Palestine last year. The number increased after Israel launched its major offensive on Gaza on October 7 following the deadly Hamas-led attack. Israeli forces have damaged or destroyed all of the universities in the Gaza Strip, in what United Nations experts described as a “systemic eradication of education.”

“On average, eight attacks on education have been recorded every day over the past two years, meaning a shocking number of students have been unable to achieve their dreams.”

In addition to attacks on educational infrastructure, the new report shows that targeted attacks on students, teachers and prominent academics have become more common around the world in recent years.

“More than 10,000 students and teachers were reportedly killed, injured, kidnapped, arrested or otherwise harmed in attacks on education in 2022 and 2023,” the new GCPEA report said. “The number of students, teachers, professors and education staff killed or injured is significantly lower than in 2020 and 2021, the period of the last Education under attack Report.”

Jerome Marston, a senior researcher at GCPEA, said that “an average of eight attacks on education have been recorded every day over the past two years, meaning that a shocking number of students have been unable to follow their learning dreams or develop the skills that an education promises.”

“Schools should be safe havens, not targets,” Marston said.

The new report highlights that attacks on education have increased against a backdrop of increasing conflict and the worsening climate crisis. According to the GCPEA, these attacks “may be linked to attacks on education,” such as the “looting of school canteens” in areas affected by severe famine.

“In late March 2022, a suspected armed group reportedly looted a school canteen in Komangou village, Gourma province, Eastern region, Burkina Faso, on two consecutive days, a local media outlet reported,” the report said. “On 16 November 2022, a suspected armed group reportedly attacked a school in Fatakara village, Timbuktu region, Mali, and looted its canteen.”

In addition, the report establishes a first link between climate-related extreme weather events and attacks on education.

“In the Philippines, for example, climate change has contributed to more intense typhoons, particularly hitting the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, where armed conflict has raged for decades,” the report said. “The UN reported that an armed group in the region attacked a school used as shelter by people displaced by emergencies while government security forces were nearby to provide disaster relief.”

GCPEA calls on all parties to armed conflict around the world to “immediately cease attacks on education” and urges governments to support the Safe Schools Declaration, an international initiative to protect education during war.

Neither the US nor Israel supported the statement.