When Schools Become Battlefields

The Education Under Attack 2026 report by the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack reveals that attacks on education are no longer isolated consequences of war, they are becoming systematic strategies that undermine entire generations. Between 2024 and 2025, the report documented at least 8,566 attacks on education, a more than 40% increase from the previous reporting period. More than 10,600 students, teachers, and education personnel were killed, injured, abducted, or otherwise harmed, while schools and universities were increasingly transformed into military targets rather than places of learning.

One of the report's most alarming findings is the rapid rise in the military use of schools. Cases nearly doubled, from around 1,000 in 2022–2023 to more than 1,900 in 2024–2025. Once schools become military bases, shelters, or strategic positions, they often become legitimate targets in armed conflict, forcing children out of classrooms long after fighting subsides. The report also documents over 1,200 attacks involving explosive weapons and more than 320 drone-related attacks, demonstrating how advances in warfare are reshaping the risks children face simply by trying to attend school.

What struck me most is that these attacks are not only destroying buildings, they are disrupting the social systems that allow children to imagine a future. Every school that closes represents lost learning, broken routines, psychological trauma, and fewer opportunities to escape cycles of poverty and conflict. Education is often described as a path to peace, yet this report shows that it is increasingly becoming a frontline of war.

This also offers an important lesson for Megaphone: protecting education means protecting far more than classrooms. By sharing the stories behind these numbers, amplifying the voices of young people living through conflict, and connecting education to broader human rights conversations, we can help shift the discussion from rebuilding schools after wars to preventing education from becoming a target in the first place. In today's conflicts, defending the right to learn may be one of the most powerful ways to defend the future itself.

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