Education comes under attack

Eleven countries including Palestine/Israel, Egypt, Iran and Syria have been named amongst those where students, teachers and academics are intentionally attacked, a study published yesterday has found.

Education Under Attack, published by the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack (GCPEA), shows the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are highly impacted by a war strategy of intentionally targeting students of all ages, teachers and academics.

The 250-page study found that 30 countries experienced this pattern of deliberate attacks between 2009 and 2013, including 11 in the MENA including: Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel/Palestine, Libya, Sudan, Syria, Turkey and Yemen.

“Schools, students and staff are not just caught in the crossfire but are all too often the targets of attacks,” Diya Nijhowne, director of GCPEA, explained. “They are bombed, burned, shot, threatened and abducted precisely because of their connection to education. They are soft, easy targets and states and armed groups need to protect them from being used as a tactic of war.”

In 24 of the 30 countries profiled in the study, seven of which are in the MENA region, warring parties took over schools in whole or part, using them as bases, barracks, firing positions, weapons caches and for other purposes.

Approximately 1,000 schools in Syria have allegedly been used as detention and torture centres by government forces. The Free Syrian Army has also allegedly used schools as bases, makeshift hospitals, detention centres and for ammunition storage.

Buildings that should have been safe places for learning became actual battlefields when military use made them a target for attack.

Yemini government airstrikes targeted nine schools in Abyan, for example, after militants linked to Al-Qaeda used them for military purposes.

“Attacks on education in the last five years have killed hundreds of students, teachers and academics and injured many more,” Nijhowne said.

“Hundreds of thousands of students have been denied the right to an education when their schools and universities have been intentionally damaged or destroyed or used for military purposes.”

Between 2009 and 2012, GCPEA found, students and educators were most at risk in 13 countries. In heavily affected countries, such as Iran, Israel/Palestine, Libya and Yemen, there were reports of at least 500 attacks, or at least 500 education-related victims, or education buildings used for military purposes.

In very heavily affected countries, such as Sudan and Syria, there were 1,000 or more attacks or victims.

The complete study can be found here