Since 2007, countless children in more than 30 countries have been denied access to education due to violence. Under these circumstances, children miss classes, drop out, witness the destruction of their schools, and become victims of violence themselves. Human Rights Watch called attention to this problem with the release of the video entitled “Schools as Battle Grounds – Protecting Student, Teachers and Schools.”
In volatile areas of the world, teachers and students experience intimidation, threats, military recruitment, injury and even death. Militias and armed rebel groups also target school buildings, destroying some and taking over others to use for fortification, barracks, bunkers and training grounds. Children who once attended school in those buildings, find themselves barred from entering by armed patrols and barbed wire.
Some of the countries most affected by school attacks include: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Mali, Nigeria, Central African Republic, South Sudan, Indonesia, and India. In these and other affected areas, children and teachers experience unspeakable horrors.
Tyo al-Farabi, a 15-year old victim in Indonesia, recollected a recent acid attack by a rival gang, stating “suddenly I felt a burning on my neck and shoulders, extremely hot. And then there was screaming.”
The threat of violence not only traumatizes children but it also instills entire populations with a sense of insecurity that has a variety of detrimental consequences for schools, teachers and students alike. Teachers flee under threat and intimidation, student attendance drops, and many schools close altogether.
Priyanka Motaparthy at Human Rights Watch reported on the situation in Syria’s schools and stated, “Syrian children have had to face things in the horrors of war that no child should have to bear – interrogated, targeted, and attacked. Schools should be havens, but in a country that once valued schooling, many Syrian children aren’t even getting basic education and are losing out on their future.”
Violence also disproportionately affects girls and other marginalized populations who are at greater risk of attack in conflict situations. These populations who already struggle for equal access to education, find themselves increasingly excluded from education.
Malala Yousafzai, a 14-year old girl shot by the Taliban in Pakistan on her way home from school, knows how violence can be used to keep girls out of school. When asked about the incident, she said “I think about it often and imagine the scene clearly. Even if they come to kill me, I will tell them what they are trying to do is wrong, that education is our basic right.”
Over time, violence will cause a long-term decline in an educational system. Children who were deprived of education will never have the chance to catch up. Quality of education suffers as the number and quality of teachers, schools, and supplies fall precipitously. The infrastructure of the educational system begins to crumble as well, and over time the entire country can suffer economically and socially. Therefore attacks on schools affect not only those directly involved, but all members and elements of society.
Creative Commons Love: The U.S. Army on Flickr.com
Written by Amanda Lubit