Educational attacks on the rise throughout the world

Attacks against universities and schools around the world are on the increase, according to a new report published by UNESCO last week.

Thousands of students, teachers, and other academics have been the victims of brutal political and military attacks over the past three years.

The report documents incidents of intimidation, beatings, torture, kidnappings, bombings and assassinations against education staff.

This report is a follow up to one commissioned in 2007, after the murder of Safia Ama Jan – a champion of women’s rights in Afghanistan. The purpose is to highlight attacks on education, and to understand the reasons for them.

But since 2007, new trends have emerged. These range from the abduction of children from schools for training as suicide bombers, to the mass poisoning of classes.

In one such event, in Afghanistan just over a year ago, a group of young girls and their teachers were attacked by men with battery acid. The incident left one girl blinded, two permanently disfigured, and two others seriously injured.

Overall, attacks on schools, students and staff tripled in Afghanistan between 2007 and 2008.

But as Brendan O’ Malley – the report’s author – notes, violent attacks are “by no means limited to supporters of the Taliban fighting in the hills of Afghanistan.”

Most of the attacks occurred within countries that already had a poor human rights record, or were engaged in conflict.

Much of the violence was carried out by state or state-backed forces, such as in Argentina, China, Thailand, and Zimbabwe.

Further instances of violence against institutions of education were a direct result of deliberate military policy.

The report found that “Israeli military operations in Gaza at the turn of 2008-2009 led to large numbers of deaths,” and as many as 300 schools and universities were damaged or severely damaged.

The motives for violence against universities were many. The report further found that: “In higher education, students and academics may be attacked to silence criticism of government policies but also to limit academic freedom and prevent political pluralism.”

It expressed particular concern that repressive regimes were using force to limit the scope of higher education.

One fear expressed was “the severe restriction or death of academic freedom” caused by the “elimination of intellectuals”.

“The effects on education of such incidents will be felt long after the funerals have taken place, through loss of teachers and intellectuals, flight of students and staff… and degradation of the education system through staffing recruitment difficulties and halted investment.”