Attacks on education up 40% worldwide, study says
Attacks on education around the world rose by 40% in 2024 and 2025, according to a new study that recorded more than 8,556 incidents across 83 countries. The report says at least 10,600 students and staff were killed, injured, abducted, arrested or otherwise harmed during the period. It identifies Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Haiti, Palestine and Ukraine among the places with the highest numbers of reported attacks.
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The study was published on Monday by the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack, a group that tracks violence affecting schools, universities, pupils and staff. It says Ukraine experienced about 900 attacks on schools, while Palestine saw at least 2,400 attacks on students and staff. The report also says cases of military forces or armed groups occupying schools or universities nearly doubled, rising by 91% to 1,912 recorded cases.
The findings point to a wider pattern of disruption to education in conflict-affected settings. The report says the highest numbers of people harmed were in Myanmar, Nigeria, Yemen and Cameroon, where more than 1,700 students and staff in total were killed or injured. In Nigeria, more than 700 students and staff were reportedly kidnapped, while in Myanmar at least 80 students and staff were killed and about 240 were injured.
The report matters because it suggests schools and universities are increasingly being drawn into conflict, rather than remaining protected civilian spaces. That has implications not only for immediate safety, but also for access to education, community stability and the long-term prospects of children and young people. The study says women and girls were targeted because of their gender in at least 11 countries, adding another layer of risk.
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The coalition's director said the findings were a warning that global norms protecting children were collapsing. An education, conflict and peace professor at University College London said the pattern appeared increasingly systematic and strategic rather than episodic. The report also gives one example from Nigeria, where gunmen attacked a girls' boarding school on 17 November 2025, killing the vice-principal and abducting 25 people.
What remains unclear from the study is how many of the incidents can be independently verified in each country and how many will lead to prosecutions or policy changes. The report does not set out a single global response, but it adds to pressure on governments and armed groups to keep schools out of conflict. The next developments to watch are whether affected states respond with new protection measures and whether the trend continues into the next reporting period.
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