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- Nigeria and Sudan experienced the most violence and armed conflicts or attacks on school facilities in 2023.
- There were 411 attacks on schools across Africa in 2023 - a 20% increase from 2022.
- Occurrences include drone strikes, the killing of elementary school teachers, and the use of tear gas to disperse teacher assemblies.
Nigeria, with 89 and Sudan 55, experienced the most violence and armed conflicts or attacks on schooling facilities in 2023, as the rate rose by 20% to 411 across Africa, compared to 2022, a new report by Save the Children has revealed.
Nigeria's two geopolitical zones on the Sahel border are the sites of two distinct ongoing wars that have arisen and evolved independently.
In the northeast, the decade-long Islamist insurgency headed by Boko Haram and its offshoots has killed more than 350 000 people, displaced more than three million people, and devastated public infrastructure in an area already plagued by poverty and low socioeconomic outcomes.
In Nigeria's northwest, groups of violent non-state actors, generally known as bandits, are laying siege to the country's most populous geopolitical zone, with distressing repercussions that may dwarf the casualties from Boko Haram's insurgency.
In 2019, bandits were allegedly responsible for more than half of all violent deaths in Nigeria.
In Sudan's more than 10-month-old war between the government forces, the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), more than 5.4 million people have been internally displaced throughout the country. Many others have been denied access to basic amenities in Khartoum, Darfur, and Kordofan states.
Prices for food staples, when they are available, continue to rise.
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The safety of civilians remains a top priority, with allegations of increased sexual and gender-based violence, as well as family separation and child recruitment.
The prolonged war continues to impede access to health services.
Healthcare facilities are understaffed and undersupplied, and certain sectors are barely functional.
Attacks on schools
According to Save The Children, occurrences include drone strikes, the killing of elementary school teachers, and the use of teargas to disperse teacher assemblies.
Some of the notable attacks included the death of a school guard and the disposal of his body, an attack on a primary school to use it as a training ground, and air raids on schools that housed displaced people in Sudan.
Ibrahim Zanna Sunoma, the deputy speaker at the National Children's Parliament in Nigeria, summarised how the attacks on schools impacted communities.
He said:
"These acts of violence not only ravage school buildings but also tear at the very fabric of our society, leaving a trail of shattered dreams and fractured futures in their wake.
"They instill fear and rob countless children of their fundamental right to learn in a safe and nurturing environment. The scars of these traumatic experiences run deep, leaving an indelible mark on the hearts and minds of we, the children.
"When crisis befalls us, the next thing that follows is schools shut down, destroyed, vandalised, and looted. Thousands of children, teachers, and other school personnel are killed, abducted, and maimed, and those that are left have a crippled definition of the future," he said.
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Mohamud Mohamed Hassan, Save The Children's interim director of the Pan Africa Office and African Union (AU) representative, urged the regional body to work towards improving what he called a deteriorating situation.
"While the AU has made significant efforts to protect students, teachers, schools, and universities from attacks and promote safe education, things have started to go backward. We have seen a major deterioration in school safety across Africa last year. The year 2024 needs to be the year of change for children," he said.
Save The Children presented the report at the ongoing 37th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the Heads of State and government of the African Union (AU) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Education is at the centre of this year's summit theme.
The News24 Africa Desk is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation. The stories produced through the Africa Desk and the opinions and statements that may be contained herein do not reflect those of the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
