Campaign to stop terror attacks on education

More than 30 countries have signed up for the Safe Schools Declaration, which aims to stop war and terror attacks deliberately targeting schools and educational facilities.

The Global Coalition to Protect Eduction from Attack (GCPEA) held a conference on 29 May in Oslo, Norway, during which over 30 countries signed up to the Safe Schools Declaration, which pledges to adopt "The Guidelines for Protecting Schools and Universities from Military Use during Armed Conflict”.

Countries who have signed the declaration want to protect both students and teachers from deliberate attacks, as well as accidental damage in conflict, and establish protected status for school buildings, so they cannot be used as barracks or for any other military purposes.

The declaration comes after attacks on a school in Peshawar Pakistan last December, where 132 students and nine teachers died. The GCPEA also report that schools in at least 70 countries have been attacked between 2009 and 2014. In Gaza last summer, 148 schools were bombed, while in Syria one in five schools have been targeted. Nigeria has seen 338 schools destroyed, with at least 196 teachers and 314 students killed.

Director of the GCPEA Diya Nijhowne said: "Targeted attacks on education are robbing a generation of the chance to realise their potential, with a huge long-term social cost.”

The GCPEA includes organisations such as Unesco, Unicef, Save the Children and Human Rights Watch. Countries that have signed the declaration include Afghanistan, Argentina, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Nigeria, the Netherlands, Poland, Qatar, South Africa, Spain and Switzerland.