Attacks on schools in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic
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Between 2015 and 2019, the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack (GCPEA) found 11,000 reported attacks on education globally. The 2020 report profiles 37 countries with a systematic pattern of attack. Violence against schools continues in 2020 with dire consequences for children.
During January to May 2020, monitoring by Insecurity Insight identified 67 incidents across 13 countries where schools were damaged or destroyed.
Schools were stormed, damaged, set on fire and vandalised either in wider attacks on civilians and infrastructure, as part of collateral damage during fighting between state and non-state actors, or in ideological attacks on education. These incidents violate children’s right to education.
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought new challenges. By the end of May, UNESCO reported 142 country-wide school closures aimed at reducing the spread of the virus affecting over 1.1 million learners. In some countries, schools that have been closed as preventive measures, have been earmarked as quarantine centres, a move frequently met with protests from locals in the surrounding school area.