The latest Education Under Attack report, launched on 15 June 2026, presents the most extensive global account to date of violence affecting schools, universities, learners and education personnel. The report documents at least 8,566 attacks on education during 2024 and 2025 — a rise of about 40% compared with the previous reporting period — and says these incidents represent a profound assault on children’s rights and futures.
“For those of us working at the intersection of education, law, policy, data and humanitarian protection, it is also a piercing call to action that can no longer be deferred.”
Scale and patterns of violence
The report recorded incidents across 83 countries, with in-depth profiles of 28 crises. In total, at least 10,600 students, teachers and education personnel were killed, injured, abducted or otherwise harmed during the two-year period under review. Among the most worrying trends is the near doubling of cases in which schools and universities were used for military purposes, now exceeding 1,900 incidents.
Explosive weapons and remote-delivery munitions have also increasingly affected education. According to the report — citing the Explosive Weapons Monitor and Insecurity Insight — there were at least 1,416 incidents in 2025 where explosive weapons damaged or destroyed education facilities or caused casualties in 27 countries. Drone strikes have reached schoolyards: the report records at least 320 drone-related attacks that killed or injured nearly 300 students and education staff during the period covered.
Consequences for learning and protection
Beyond physical damage to infrastructure, the report highlights how attacks on education undermine routine, play, friendships and the mental safety that makes learning possible. The consequences are both immediate and long-term: interrupted schooling, lost teaching capacity, displacement of learners and a collapse in the sense of possibility that education is meant to offer.
- Disruption of schooling and widespread absences due to safety fears.
- Damage to education infrastructure, with long rebuild times in conflict settings.
- Direct causal links between attacks and rising numbers of out-of-school children in affected contexts.
Data highlights
| Measure | 2024–25 |
|---|---|
| Reported attacks on education | 8,566 |
| People killed, injured, abducted or harmed | 10,600 |
| Countries with recorded incidents | 83 |
| Cases of military use of schools/universities | Over 1,900 |
| Explosive weapon incidents affecting education (2025) | 1,416 |
| Drone-related attacks on education | 320 (nearly 300 killed/injured) |
What this means for policy and practice
The report frames these trends as a failure of global governance and calls for urgent, coordinated policy responses. For education planners and protection actors, the findings underline the need to prioritise the physical and psychological safety of learners and educators, to safeguard facilities, and to ensure continuity of learning in conflict-affected areas.
For South Africa’s education sector, the report offers a reminder of global risks and obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law. While the country is not among the crises profiled, the trajectories identified — especially the militarisation of schools and the growing use of explosive and remote weapons near education sites — provide relevant lessons for preparedness, contingency planning and international advocacy on protecting education in emergencies.
International agencies and researchers who contributed to the report stress that protecting schools must be a central aspect of humanitarian responses and of longer-term recovery and reconstruction efforts. The data also offers a baseline for monitoring progress and for campaigns that seek to close the ‘impunity gap’ when attacks on education go unpunished.
Education actors, donors and humanitarian partners will need to consider practical measures such as reinforced safety mapping around schools, secure learning spaces, psychosocial support for learners and staff, and legal and diplomatic avenues to deter military use of educational infrastructure.
The Education Under Attack report delivers stark figures and a moral challenge: ensuring that schooling remains a protected space even in the most insecure environments. For learners caught in conflict, the stakes are not abstract — they are their daily chances to learn, grow and imagine a future.
