Education under threat in West and Central Africa

Thirty years after governments around the world adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the right to an education is being violated in communities hit by conflict in West and Central Africa.

Right now, nearly two million children are being robbed of an education in the region due to violence and insecurity in and around their schools. In Burkina Faso, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, Niger and Nigeria, a surge in threats and attacks against students, teachers and schools – on education itself – is casting a foreboding shadow upon children, their families, their communities and society at large.

Now more than ever, governments must reaffirm their commitment to protecting education from attack and providing the resources needed to help their youngest citizens to keep learning. Now is the time for renewed efforts to make sure the potential of a generation of young people is not wasted.

When education is under attack, safe schooling in the traditional sense becomes impossible to provide. The threat of attacks creates a sense of fear in local communities, forcing schools to close, teachers to flee and school children to remain at home, unable to learn in classrooms with their peers.

Out-of-school children also face a present filled with dangers. Compared to their peers who are in school, they are at a much higher risk of recruitment by armed groups. Girls face an elevated risk of gender-based violence and are forced into child marriage more often, with ensuing early pregnancies and childbirth that threaten their lives and health.

Without education, children face a future stripped of hope. The life of a child kept out of school is a tragedy of unfulfilled potential and lost opportunity. In an increasingly complex region confronted by conflict and instability, education can never be optional. Children must be provided with the opportunity to acquire the skills, knowledge, values and attitudes they need to become responsible, active and productive adults.

The life of a child kept out of school is a tragedy of unfulfilled potential and lost opportunity

• While a classroom is preferable, it is not the only place to provide learning activities. For example, UNICEF and the Children’s Radio Foundation have been collaborating since 2016 on designing and piloting the first-of-its-kind Radio Education in Emergencies programme.
• UNICEF has also been creating temporary learning centres, which provide a small, safe area for teaching children basic mathematics and reading. Children are encouraged to write about family and community history in their notebooks. Most of all, they are encouraged to play – a vital activity, especially for children living in insecure areas.
• UNICEF supports efforts by education authorities across the region to upgrade teachers’ skills – for example, by equipping pre- and in-service teachers to work with community members on emergency preparedness and response plans, and to provide students with psychosocial support. Such support helps children heal, recover and build resilience.
• In northeast Nigeria, UNICEF works to help conflict-affected children get back into learning with the assistance they need to realize their right to an education. Support includes temporary learning centres; teaching and learning materials; teacher training in positive classroom management and emergency preparedness; school rehabilitation; and community engagement in school-based decision making.