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WESTPORT, Conn. (July 11, 2013) —
Almost 50 million children living in conflict-affected countries are being
denied the chance to go to school, while the number of reported attacks on
education is rising, Save the Children has said.
The number of reported incidents of children being stopped from
accessing education, physically attacked or recruited by armed groups has
increased sharply over the past year, after monitoring efforts were stepped
up in the face of the deteriorating situation in Syria and concerns over
girls' access to education in parts of South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
In a new report published today, Save the Children
documents the impact of conflict on education, and includes new research
done for Save the Children by UNESCO's Education for All Global Monitoring
Report (EFAGMR) that finds 48.5 million children living in conflict areas
are currently out of school, more than half of them at primary school age.
The conflict in Syria has contributed to the sharp increase in the
number of reported incidents, according to Save the Children. Of more than
3,600 incidents recorded in 2012, more than 70 percent were in Syria.
The new research comes as Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai addresses
the UN General Assembly on July 12 in her first public speech since she was
attacked by gunmen on her way to school in Pakistan last October.
The report finds:
- Of the nearly 50
million children aged between six and 15 out of school in
conflict-affected countries in 2011, 28.5 million were primary school
children, more than half of them girls.
- In 2012, there were
3,600 documented attacks on education, including violence, torture and
intimidation against children and teachers, resulting in death or grave
injuries, the shelling and bombing of schools and the recruitment of
school-aged children by armed groups.
- Since the start of
the Syria conflict, 3,900 schools have either been destroyed, damaged
or are being occupied for purposes other than education.
In addition to the research, Save the Children has gathered first-hand
testimonies of children caught up in attacks on education:
- I am in ninth grade
but this war stopped me from graduating. I should have graduated and
gone to high school, to start building my future but no… my future is
destroyed.
– Motassem, 13, Syria
- The day the rebels
came, they destroyed the school. They went into the headmaster's
office and destroyed everything; they destroyed the students' papers. – Salif, 13, Mali
- Young people in the
village are approached by guerrillas to recruit them. My cousin was
tricked into going with them four months ago and I haven't heard from
her in a month.
– Paula, 15, Colombia
"Education offers children in some of the toughest parts of the
world the chance at a brighter future. The attacks highlighted in our
report are an attack on that future, robbing children of the chance to
learn and fulfill their potential. The classroom should be a place of
safety and security, not a battleground where children suffer the most
appalling crimes. Children who are targeted in this way will pay the price
for the rest of their lives," said Carolyn Miles, president and CEO of
Save the Children.
"Conflict is holding back progress, preventing millions of children
from going to school every year. Our new analysis shows that children out
of school in conflict-affected countries are being forgotten. Many of the
affected children will never resume their education, and will be scarred
physically and psychologically for life," said Pauline Rose, Director
of the Global Monitoring Report.
Despite the high levels of children out of school and the sharp increase
in attacks, levels of funding for education in humanitarian emergencies
remain shockingly low. Education funding has continued to fall from 2
percent of overall humanitarian funding in 2011 to only 1.4 percent of
overall humanitarian funding in 2012, below the 4 percent that the global
community has been calling for since 2010.
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