Politics Millions of children in Africa can't go to school because of violence

Around 2.8 million children in West and Central Africa are unable to go to school due to conflict. According to UN figures, more than 14,000 schools were closed in the second quarter of 2024 in the 24 states in the region between the Sahara and the Congo Basin.

That is around 1,000 more schools than in the previous year. Burkina Faso and Mali as well as Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are particularly affected, as the aid organization Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) emphasized on the occasion of the World Day for the Protection of Education from Attacks.

In conflict areas, rebels attack schools or kidnap children or teachers. Islamist groups such as the notorious Boko Haram in Nigeria are also fighting against state education as a matter of principle. "The deliberate attacks on schools and the systematic denial of education due to conflict are a real disaster," said NRC Regional Director Hassane Hamadou.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo alone, 1,457 schools have had to close since the beginning of the year. In Mali, Burkina Faso and the Central African Republic, however, some schools previously closed due to violence were able to reopen.

In addition to school closures as a result of violence, social and economic factors are also preventing many children from attending school. According to the UN, a total of 57 million children in West and Central Africa between the ages of 5 and 14 are currently not attending school.