New York, Sept. 10 (SANA)An international report warned of an unprecedented number of attacks on education during 2024 and 2025, with 93 million children completely deprived of education and 258 million children in 87 countries facing severe disruption due to conflicts, insecurity and other factors.

The report, issued byEducationCannot Wait (ECW) in cooperation with other organizations and published by UN News on the occasion of the International Day to Protect Education fromAttack, said attacks on education and the military use of schools reached record levels over the past two years, amid escalating conflicts, declining restraint and the erosion of global norms in several regions.

The report said at least 9,259 attacks targeted education, including more than 3,600 attacks on schools, across 28 areas covered by the report, representing an increase of more than 50 per cent compared with 2022 and 2023.

It added that more than 10,600 students and educators were killed, injured, abducted or otherwise harmed, while the military use of schools nearly doubled.

ECW Director Maysa Jalbout said that depriving a child of education for years has immediate and profound consequences, beginning with the loss of literacy skills and daily routines and potentially ending with a future shaped by recruiters or human traffickers rather than teachers.

The report warned that escalating fighting in densely populated areas has exposed children to airstrikes, artillery shelling and explosive drones, while homes, schools, hospitals and other civilian infrastructure have been damaged or destroyed.

It added that, alongside the risks ofviolence, children face disruption caused by displacement and the search for food, water and medical care.

The highest numbers of grave violations were recorded in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, Myanmar and Somalia, while government forces were, for the first time, responsible for the majority of verified grave violations.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in a message marking the International Day to Protect Education from Attack that education is “the key to a better future” for children and young people, stressing that it is a fundamental human right despite growing threats to its realization.

He called for ensuring every child’s right to education and the safety of schools and places of learning, urging parties of conflicts to stop and prevent attacks on schools and educational institutions and hold perpetrators accountable.

Guterres also stressed the need to work together to prepare and protect education systems, both in classrooms and online, particularly for girls and children living in vulnerable situations, as well as to safely reintegrate children and young people associated with armed forces and groups into schools and local communities.

The International Day to Protect Education from Attack is observed annually on Sept. 9, and was established by theUNGeneral Assembly in 2020.

Education Cannot Wait, the UN global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises, works to mobilize funding and investments to support children and young people affected by conflicts, disasters and crises and ensure continuity of education in the most vulnerable settings.