Attacks on schools, teachers and children in conflict zones triple in five years – Save the Children

NAIROBI, 24 Nov 2025 - The number of attacks on schools, teachers and students in conflict zones has tripled in the past five years, despite a global declaration a decade ago to protect education in armed conflict, according to new Save the Children analysis. 

Even in the past week, two attacks in Nigeria have highlighted the ongoing vulnerability of schools to attack, with more than 300 children and staff kidnapped from a school in central Nigeria on Friday, and more than 20 schoolgirls kidnapped from a boarding school in neighbouring Kebbi state on Monday. 

While the declaration is helping to protect education when implemented by governments, [2], the rising number of humanitarian crises globally risks depriving more children of their right to an education without fear of violence or attack, said Save the Children. 

Attacks on schools over the past five years included killing and abduction of teachers and students, airstrikes on schools, occupation of schools by armed groups, and sexual violence against students inside education facilities.  

The Safe Schools Declaration is an inter-governmental political commitment aiming to protect education during armed conflict and, so far, has been signed by 121 states. The conference is seeking to mobilise renewed political will to protect education from attack. 

Ongoing analysis has been carried out by the Global Coalition to Protect Education - a UN and NGO coalition that includes Save the Children, who are working to protect education during armed conflict. The coalition has suggested that reported attacks on education, including the military use of schools and universities, have continued to rise in 2025. 

Sudan is facing one of the worst education crises in the world following the eruption of conflict in April 2023 with most schools forced to close. This has left more than three quarters of Sudan’s 17 million school-age children out of school, with many increasingly unlikely to ever complete their studies - a crisis that could impact the futures of an entire generation of children. 

Salma*, from Taiz, Yemen, was a 6-year-old when the war broke out in 2015, her family was among those unable to leave. Salma said: 

“Classes stopped across the city. Schools were no longer safe; some were shelled, others lay too close to the frontlines, including mine. We were out of school for six months. We studied in basements to avoid shelling. The rooms were dark, poorly ventilated, with no desks, no mats, no carpets—we sat on stones. There were no blackboards, so teachers dictated lessons. It was very difficult for us as young children to keep up with writing. “ 

Salma, now 16 and in secondary school, wants to be a doctor. 

“My message to decision-makers is to respect children’s right to education and give serious attention to our future by providing safe schools, protecting us from conflict, and making sure we can learn in a safe environment.” 

Save the Children is calling on leaders to make schools safe places for children and to   protect students, teachers and schools from attack during armed conflict and limit the use of schools for military purposes. 

Duncan Harvey, the Country Director of Save the Children Nigeria, said: 

“Tomorrow, Nigeria will join other countries at the Fifth International Conference on the Safe Schools Declaration in Nairobi, Kenya.  The conference will mark a decade of global commitment to protect education during armed conflict and adopt the Nairobi Action Plan, a renewed roadmap to ensure schools remain safe havens for learning. These latest school kidnappings in Nigeria must be a wake-up call. Commitments on paper are not enough; children need protection now.” 

Chantal Mutamuriza, Save the Children’s Senior Advisor on Humanitarian & Education Advocacy, attending the conference in Kenya, said: 

“No child should ever have to choose between learning and staying alive. When a school is attacked, it’s not just walls that fall, a child’s safety, dreams, and future fall with them. Around the world, millions of children have seen their classrooms reduced to rubble, their books buried in dust, or their schools turned into shelters as they flee violence. 

“Over 120 governments have endorsed the Safe Schools Declaration. Some have already begun implementing it with inspiring practices that prove progress is possible.  Children need action. States everywhere need to endorse and implement this declaration and ensure accountability when education-related violations happen. Protecting schools means protecting futures, and when we fail to do so, the consequences last for generations." 

Save the Children supports the education of children around the world by providing safe learning spaces for those whose lives are shattered by conflict, where children can also access healthcare, vaccinations and mental health support.   Save the Children’s Safe Schools approach connects school and community interventions with policy, ensuring those living through conflict shape their own protection. 

ENDS 

*Named changed for anonymity 

Notes to Editors:  

[1] Save the Children looked at annual reports by the UN Secretary on Children and Armed Conflict between 2020 and 2024. Unlike the annual UN reports on children and conflict, we have included verified incidents of military use of schools when we add up the grave violations in each year. 

  

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