Millions of children around the world do not have access to education. The reasons are varied and complex. Armed attacks on education account for a large percentage of that statistic. More than half of all school-age children who do not attend school live in countries affected by conflict where students, teachers, and schools are targeted, threatened, and attacked. In this webinar, we will focus on Education Under Attack – a disturbing global phenomenon that’s depriving millions of children around the world of their right to education, causing drastic decreases in attendance rates, victimizing committed teachers, and devastating schools and communities. We will focus on what you can do, now, in your community and globally, to make a difference and help ensure that the right to education is respected, worldwide.

1. Education
Under
Attack
Konrad Glogowski
Teachers Without Borders
December 12, 2011
@teachandlearn
@teachersnetwork
konrad@twb.org
Photo: © 2011 Lana Slezic/Panos / UNICEF Girls playing in a damaged building in Kabul that is home to 105 refugee families

2. Article 26
(1) Everyone has the right to education. Education
shall be free, at least in the elementary and
fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be
compulsory.
(2) Education shall be directed to the full
development of the human personality and to the
strengthening of respect for human rights and
fundamental freedoms. It shall promote
understanding, tolerance and friendship among all
nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the
activities of the United Nations for the maintenance
of peace.

3. Definition
The UNESCO 2010 Report, Education Under Attack
2010, report defines attacks on education as
"targeted violent attacks, carried out for political,
military, ideological, sectarian, ethnic, religious or
criminal reasons, against students, teachers, academics
and all other education personnel ... It also covers
targeted attacks on educational buildings, resources,
materials and facilities, including transport" (p.17).

4. Types of Attacks
Photo: ©UNESCO/Eman Mohammed Holes in a school wall in northern Gaza strip

5. Types of Attacks
1.Mass or multiple killings or injuries; abductions, kidnappings, forced
disappearance, illegal imprisonment and torture;
2.Indiscriminate, disproportionate violence and targeted violence against
education protestors, personnel, teachers, infrastructure, and resources;
3.Forced/unforced recruitment and use of children under 15 years old as
soldiers or suicide bombers;
4.Occupation and/or use of educational buildings or facilities by the
military or armed groups;
5.Verbal or written warnings to stop teaching, close schools or other
education institutions, not repair or re-open them, not attend school or
college, not teach or research particular subjects or face violent
retribution;
6.Official published threats or orders by armed groups, the military or
security forces to carry out attacks.
Source: Education Under Attack 2010

6. Statistics
Iraq: 71 academics and 37 students
Education has been attacked in 31 killed in assassinations and targeted
countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, and bombings between 2007 and 2009
Latin America between 2007 and
2010. Between 2006 and 2008, 90 teachers were
murdered in Colombia.
India: nearly 300 schools blown up by
Maoist rebels between 2006 and 2009
300,000 children are being
Georgia: 127 places of
learning destroyed or
used as soldiers
damaged in August 2008.
Recruitment of child
Teachers and students killed, soldiers, killing of children,
schools burned in Southern sexual violence against
Thailand (164 attacks children in 22 countries
between 2006-2007) (2010)
Source: Education Under Attack 2010

7. Attacks on Schools
Photo: ©UNESCO/Eman Mohammed Damaged hallway in east Gaza school

8. Attacks on Schools
• GAZA: 262 schools damaged, reconstruction delayed,
overcrowded/unsafe classrooms; hundreds of teachers and
students killed and injured
• AFGHANISTAN: 613 incidents reported in 2009, 70% to 80%
of schools closed in some regions, 450 schools closed, girls’
schools targeted more frequently; 300,000 children affected in
2009 alone; 1,200 attacks between 2006 and 2008
• SOMALIA: 144 schools in Mogadishu closed since 2007,
Transitional Government and Al-Shabaab militia involved in
attacks
• PAKISTAN: 172 schools damaged or destroyed between 2007
and 2009; 40,000 school-age children deprived of education
• INDIA: Attacks used by insurgent groups as a tactic; hundreds
of schools damaged, closed, blown-up
Source: Education Under Attack 2010

9. Attacks on Schools
• BRAZIL: Schools used by drug gangs and by the police
• COLOMBIA: Hundreds of teachers killed and threatened;
14,000 child soldiers
• DRC: Children abducted from schools; hundreds of schools
closed
• GEORGIA: Schools closed or used for IDPs
• IRAN: Sanctions against teacher protesters
• IRAQ: Over 30,000 attacks on education
• LEBANON: Hundreds of schools damaged
Source: Education Under Attack 2010

10. Why Schools and Education?
© 2010 Bede Sheppard/Human Rights Watch Scorched notebook pages, Thailand

11. Why Schools and Education?
• Schools or teachers as representatives of a different
culture, philosophy, religion or ethnic identity;
• Attacks to prevent the education of girls;
• Attacks on examination halls and convoys carrying
examination papers;
• Attacks on schools and universities as symbols of
government power;
• Attacks on schools, universities, education offices,
students, teachers, other staff and officials to undermine
confidence in government control of an area;

12. Why Schools and Education?
• Abduction of children and some adults for use as
combatants, or to provide forced labour, sexual
services and/or logistical support;
• Abduction for ransom;
• Attacks to silence political opposition, prevent the
voicing of alternative views, punish involvement in
trade unions;
• Occupation of schools.

13. Impacts
Photo: ©UNESCO/Eman Mohammed Damaged school wall in northern Gaza

14. Impacts
Source: UNESCO Global Monitoring Report 2001: The Hidden Crisis. Armed Conflict and Education

15. Impacts
“These attacks have a terrible physical effect,
because they destroy human lives, buildings
and spaces for safe learning ... but they also
have a symbolic effect that is devastating in
itself, and which also exacerbates the physical
effect”
- Vernor Munoz, Special Rapporteur on the Right to
Education
Education Under Attack 2010, p. 95)

16. Impacts
“Education is an important right because it is
about fulfillment as a citizen, as an individual,
and attacks on education buildings and
students and adults engaged in education
impede that process. Children, particularly,
don’t get that opportunity again.”
- Jan Eastman, Deputy Secretary General of
Education International
Education Under Attack 2010, p. 97)

17. Impacts
We will not reach [the EFA goals] when
students themselves, their teachers and
other education personnel are victims of
threats and attacks ... But the issue goes well
beyond numbers. It is about how the denial
of education in fact perpetuates a cycle of
violence and exclusion, how we deprive
children, youth and adults of the knowledge,
skills and values they need to build a better
and more peaceful future.”
- Nicholas Burnett, UNESCO Assistant Director
General for Education
Education Under Attack 2010, p. 99)

18. Impacts
• Physical
• Psychosocial
• Financial
• Educational
• Impacts on development

19. What You Can Do
Four Gaps:
• Information Gap
• Research Gap
• Policy Gap
• Advocacy Gap

20. What You Can Do
Use your own education to protect the right
to education:
• Tap into the right information sources
• Join relevant groups, associations, initiatives
• Share what you learn
• Teach
• TWB Internship and Consultancy

21. Education Under Attack
Thank you for attending
@teachandlearn | @teachersnetwork | konrad@twb.org
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Photo: © 2011 Lana Slezic/Panos / UNICEF Girls playing in a damaged building in Kabul that is home to 105 refugee families