The world is drifting toward a place where even the youngest are no longer off-limits
Across 83 countries in 2024 and 2025, the places where children gather to learn became targets of deliberate violence at a scale not seen in recent memory — 8,556 documented attacks, more than 10,600 lives shattered, and a 40 percent surge that researchers describe not as chaos but as strategy. From Ukraine to Palestine, from Nigeria to Myanmar, the schoolhouse is no longer a sanctuary but a site of contest, occupation, and erasure. What is being lost is not merely infrastructure or academic years, but the foundational human promise that the young will be protected — and the slow, alarming recognition that this promise is being broken with impunity.
- Attacks on schools jumped 40% in just two years, with 8,556 incidents documented across 83 countries — a scale that overwhelmed researchers and shattered assumptions about protected spaces in conflict.
- Military occupation of school buildings nearly doubled to 1,912 cases, revealing a deliberate strategic logic: education itself is being weaponized, not merely caught in crossfire.
- Women, girls, and disabled children are being singled out — a girls' boarding school in Nigeria was raided, 25 students abducted; a school for children with special needs in Lebanon was deliberately demolished by controlled detonation.
- The crisis is inseparable from a broader collapse — 65 active conflicts in 2025, the deadliest year since the Rwandan genocide, and a 373% rise in grave violations against children since 2010 as aid budgets shrink and accountability vanishes.
- Experts say the violence is not inevitable: ending military use of schools, restoring legal accountability, and building early warning systems could reverse the trend — but political will remains the missing variable.
In 2024 and 2025, armed forces and armed groups attacked schools in 83 countries with a frequency that stunned researchers. More than 8,500 incidents were documented. At least 10,600 students and staff were killed, injured, abducted, or arrested — a 40 percent increase from the previous two-year period, according to the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack.
The violence was concentrated but widespread. Ukraine suffered roughly 900 attacks; Palestine recorded at least 2,400. Myanmar, Nigeria, Yemen, and Cameroon together saw more than 1,700 casualties. In Nigeria alone, over 700 students and staff were kidnapped. These were not accidents. Researchers described them as deliberate strikes on the places where children learn.
One pattern alarmed experts above all others: the militarization of schools themselves. Armed forces or groups occupied school buildings in 1,912 documented cases — a 91 percent increase. Coalition director Lisa Chung Bender warned that norms once thought to shield children were eroding. Certain groups faced the sharpest danger. In at least 11 countries, women and girls were targeted because of their gender. Children with disabilities were also singled out. High explosives and drone-borne munitions caused mass casualties and forced many schools to close permanently.
Professor Tejendra Pherali of University College London captured what the statistics could not fully convey. Behind the numbers, he said, were children who no longer saw school as safe — and communities that had lost faith in the institutions meant to educate them. The psychological wound ran as deep as the physical one.
The broader context was stark. Active conflicts between states reached their highest level since World War II. More than 244,000 people were killed in organized violence in 2025 alone — the second deadliest year since the Rwandan genocide. Since 2010, the number of children living in conflict zones had risen 60 percent, while grave violations against children had increased 373 percent. Aid cuts from major donor nations had further eroded humanitarian response.
Yet experts insisted the trajectory was not fixed. States could stop using schools for military purposes, strengthen legal accountability, and invest in early warning systems. Whether the political will to do so exists remains, for now, an open question.
In 2024 and 2025, armed groups and military forces attacked schools in 83 countries with a ferocity that caught researchers off guard. More than 8,500 separate incidents were documented. At least 10,600 students and staff were killed, injured, abducted, or arrested. The overall surge represented a 40 percent increase from the previous two-year period, according to the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack, which released its findings on Monday.
The violence was not evenly distributed. Ukraine endured roughly 900 attacks on its schools. Palestine recorded at least 2,400. But the countries with the highest casualty counts—Myanmar, Nigeria, Yemen, and Cameroon—saw more than 1,700 students and staff killed or wounded combined. In Nigeria alone, more than 700 students and staff were kidnapped. Myanmar reported at least 80 dead and about 240 injured. These were not accidents or collateral damage. They were deliberate strikes on places where children learn.
One pattern stood out to researchers: the militarization of schools themselves. Cases in which armed forces or armed groups occupied school buildings or university campuses nearly doubled, rising 91 percent to 1,912 recorded instances. This was not episodic violence—random attacks scattered across time. Experts described it as systematic, strategic, and increasingly normalized. Lisa Chung Bender, director of the coalition, warned that global norms once thought to protect children were eroding. "The world is drifting toward a place where even the youngest are no longer off-limits," she said.
Certain groups faced heightened danger. In at least 11 countries, women and girls were deliberately targeted because of their gender. On November 17, 2025, gunmen attacked a girls' boarding school in Nigeria, killing the vice-principal and abducting 25 female students. Children with disabilities, already struggling to access education, were also singled out. On September 11, 2025, the Israeli military carried out a controlled detonation to destroy a school for children with special needs in Lebanon. The weapons used in these attacks—high explosives, drone-borne munitions—caused extensive casualties and destroyed school infrastructure, forcing many institutions to close entirely.
Tejendra Pherali, a professor of education, conflict and peace at University College London, reflected on what the numbers obscured. "Behind these numbers are the children who no longer see schools as a place of safety," he said. "It's not just education that is lost—it's safety, futures and trust in educational institutions." The psychological toll was as real as the physical one. Schools that survived attacks often remained shuttered. Communities lost faith in the institutions meant to educate their children.
The broader context made the crisis more alarming. The number of active conflicts between states reached its highest level since World War II. Uppsala University's conflict data program registered 65 conflicts during 2025, with 13 classified as wars. More than 244,000 people were killed in organized violence that year—the second deadliest year since the Rwandan genocide in 1994. Against this backdrop, attacks on education were not aberrations. They were part of a larger unraveling of international humanitarian law.
Kieran King, from the charity War Child UK, connected the dots. Since 2010, the number of children living in conflict zones had risen 60 percent. Over the same period, grave violations against children—including attacks on education—had increased 373 percent. States acted without fear of meaningful consequences. Aid cuts from the United States, United Kingdom, and others had drained resources from humanitarian response. "The inevitable result of that is a documented surge in disregard for international humanitarian law," King said.
Yet Chung Bender insisted the violence was not inevitable. States could end the military use of schools. They could strengthen legal protections and hold perpetrators accountable. They could invest in monitoring systems and early warning mechanisms. The question was whether the political will existed to do so. As conflicts multiplied and norms eroded, the answer remained unclear.
Notable Quotes
Behind these numbers are the children who no longer see schools as a place of safety. It's not just education that is lost—it's safety, futures and trust in educational institutions.— Tejendra Pherali, professor of education, conflict and peace at University College London
The global norms that once protected children are collapsing. A warning that the world is drifting toward a place where even the youngest are no longer off-limits.— Lisa Chung Bender, director of the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does the military occupy schools in the first place? What's the strategic value?
Schools are large buildings with roofs, often in central locations. They're infrastructure. But more than that—occupying a school denies the other side a gathering place, a symbol of civilian life. It's a way of saying: nothing is off-limits.
The report mentions 10,600 harmed. That's a specific number. How do researchers even count something like that across 83 countries?
They work with NGOs, local monitors, government records, news reports. It's incomplete by definition—many attacks go undocumented, especially in remote areas or where reporting is dangerous. So 10,600 is a floor, not a ceiling.
You mentioned girls being targeted in Nigeria. Is that a separate phenomenon from the general violence, or part of the same logic?
It's the same logic taken further. If schools are already targets, then targeting girls' schools specifically sends a message about who belongs in education. It's violence with ideology attached.
The expert said this is "systematic rather than episodic." What's the difference?
Episodic means random, scattered, unpredictable. Systematic means there's a pattern, a strategy. It means commanders are making decisions to attack schools. It's not chaos—it's policy.
What happens to a child who survives an attack but the school closes anyway?
They lose education, obviously. But they also lose the routine, the peers, the sense that there's a future worth preparing for. That's what the professor meant about losing more than just schooling.
The article mentions aid cuts from the US and UK. How does that connect to attacks on schools?
When humanitarian funding dries up, there's less capacity to respond, less monitoring, less documentation. Perpetrators see weaker accountability systems. The message becomes: you can do this and face no real cost.