Education in Conflict Situations

Education in Conflict SituationsDate | 2 August 2026

Tomorrow (3 August), the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council (PSC) is expected to convene its 1357^th meeting, dedicated to its annual open session on education in conflict situations.

The session commences with the opening remarks of the Permanent Representative of Algeria to the AU and Chairperson of the PSC for August 2026, Mohamed Khaled, followed by the statement of Bankole Adeoye, AU Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security (PAPS). The PSC is expected to receive presentations from Professor Gaspard Banyankimbona, AU Commissioner for Education, Science, Technology and Innovation (ESTI), and Amma A. Twum-Amoah, AU Commissioner for Health, Humanitarian Affairs and Social Development. Jainaba Jagne, AU Special Envoy for Children Affected by Armed Conflict (CAAC); Rebecca Amuge Otengo, Co-Chair of the Africa Platform on CAAC (AP-CAAC); Professor Robert Doya Nanima, the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC) Special Rapporteur on Children in Conflict Situations; Vanessa Frazier, UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict; and a UNICEF representative are also expected to brief the session.

The last time the Council considered the theme was at its 1296^th meeting, held on 13 August 2025. It tasked the AU Commission ‘to develop a policy on the protection and provision of education services during conflicts on the Continent’ and to issue ‘periodic Scorecards on the Elimination of Harmful Practices, tracking trends in child marriage and other violations in conflict-affected areas.’ The Council also requested a comprehensive and regularly updated matrix of AU legal frameworks, strategies and initiatives supporting inclusive education and continuity of learning during conflict, accompanied by an action plan for implementation from 2025 onwards. Tomorrow’s session may therefore assess progress on these assignments, identify outstanding policy, institutional, financing and capacity gaps, and consider how recurring commitments can be translated into measurable protection and education-continuity measures.

A notable institutional development since the last session is the appointment of Ambassador Jainaba Jagne as AU Special Envoy for CAAC on 1 February 2026. The appointment responds to a long-standing PSC request, reiterated at its 1229^th meeting, the Council’s first dedicated open session on inclusive education in conflict situations. As the AU’s lead political advocate on CAAC, the Envoy provides a focal point for advocacy, coordination and accountability regarding grave violations, including those that obstruct access to education. In a June 2026 AU–UN joint statement, she called for movement ‘from commitments to implementation’ through stronger Member State action, child-sensitive early warning, protection of essential infrastructure and climate-resilient recovery. The PSC could accordingly involve the Envoy in developing and monitoring the proposed policy and implementation framework.

The broader policy environment has also evolved. The AU Decade of Accelerated Action for the Transformation of Education and Skills Development in Africa, 2025–2034, was formally launched in October 2025 alongside six strategic frameworks, including CESA 2026–2035. A February 2026 high-level partners’ consultation and CESA’s proposed cluster, governance and monitoring arrangements provide a stronger implementation architecture. The Nouakchott Declaration likewise calls for education in emergencies to be integrated into national education plans, for education-management information systems to cover conflict-affected and displaced children, and for a continental accountability mechanism. At the international level, UN Security Council Resolution 2601 (2021) reinforces the protection framework by condemning attacks and threats against schools, affirming their civilian character and calling for continuity of education.

The scale of disruption gives urgency to the Council’s deliberations. The June 2026 Education Cannot Wait Global Estimates indicate that the crises affect 258 million school-aged children and adolescents worldwide, including 93 million who are out of school, with Africa accounting for about 128 million across 38 countries. Although the available figures measure different periods and dimensions of disruption and are not directly comparable, they illustrate the breadth of the crisis across the continent.

Against the background of the foregoing data, it is of importance for the PSC to organise tomorrow’s discussion around four mutually reinforcing priorities. The first is protecting education by translating the Safe Schools Declaration into national doctrine and practice, strengthening early warning, reporting, investigation and accountability, and safeguarding learners, teachers and the civilian character of education facilities.

The second is sustaining continuity of education through emergency planning, temporary, accelerated and flexible learning, appropriate offline options, portable records and recognition of prior learning for displaced children.

The third concerns learning recovery and inclusion, with emphasis on foundational learning, teacher support, psychosocial services and barriers affecting girls, children with disabilities, displaced learners and children formerly associated with armed groups.

The fourth is financing and measuring delivery through stronger domestic and pooled financing.

In terms of protecting education, the PSC’s 1314^th meeting recognised the internationally recognised six grave violations against children in armed conflict, including attacks on schools and hospitals. These violations are mutually reinforcing, as attacks and prolonged disruption can increase exposure to recruitment, exploitation, early marriage and sexual violence. Education under Attack 2026 recorded that thirteen of the 28 country profiles involving attacks on education and incidents of military use concern African states, with the DRC and Ethiopia among those recording the highest incidence of attacks and Nigeria and Cameroon among those with the highest numbers of students and education personnel harmed. Although African participation in the Safe Schools Declaration is substantial, implementation remains uneven. The Fifth International Conference on the Safe Schools Declaration, held in Nairobi in November 2025, identified domestication and implementation as the main gaps.

With respect to sustaining continuity, deliberations are likely to consider suitable delivery methods in conflict-affected settings. Mobile provision, digital platforms and radio-based learning broadly align with the AU Digital Education Strategy. Nevertheless, Amani Africa’s post-session analysis of the 1296^th meeting cautioned that unreliable electricity, weak connectivity, inadequate infrastructure, device scarcity and internet shutdowns can severely limit digital learning in conflict settings. Commissioner Banyankimbona reinforced this point at the July 2026 Innovating Education in Africa Expo, noting that many schools still lack electricity and affordable internet and stressing that ‘technology is simply a tool, and people are the purpose.’ Digital delivery should therefore complement functioning schools, teachers and face-to-face support and be combined with radio, print materials, mobile classrooms and community learning spaces. The discussion may also consider accessibility across languages, locations and levels of connectivity, while avoiding measures that deepen exclusion among displaced and marginalised learners.

On learning recovery and inclusion, the mutually reinforcing nature of grave violations requires responses linking education with child-protection monitoring, DDR, humanitarian assistance, psychosocial support, mediation and post-conflict reconstruction. Teacher support is equally central. The October 2025 regional Call to Action urges governments and partners to ‘protect, support, and invest in’ teachers through improved safety, fair and predictable remuneration, training, well-being and participation in policy. Reopening schools without a protected, supported and adequately paid workforce risks creating formally open schools unable to provide safe and meaningful learning. The BRIDGES programme, launched in Sudan in May 2026, offers a practical recovery model. It aims to restore learning for more than 328,000 conflict-affected children, reopen about 850 schools, support over 9,000 teachers and establish nearly 1,800 safe learning spaces. Its value lies in linking access with teacher support, remedial learning, alternative spaces, improved data and longer-term system strengthening, rather than treating recovery as physical rehabilitation alone. Support for displaced learners should also include investment in host-community schools to prevent overcrowding and pressure on fragile receiving areas.

Finally, financing is expected to be central to the Council’s deliberations. Africa faces an estimated annual education financing gap of US$77 billion, while conflict-affected systems must compete with other urgent humanitarian priorities. This pressure is compounded by UNICEF’s projection that global education aid will decline by US$3.2 billion, or 24 per cent, between 2023 and 2026, potentially placing nearly six million additional children at risk of dropping out, including about 1.9 million in West and Central Africa. Although crisis-affected families continue to prioritise education, nearly four in five school withdrawals are attributed either to financial barriers or conflict-related school closures, accounting for 39 per cent and 38 per cent, respectively. Against this backdrop, the 1296^th meeting emphasised higher domestic allocations, pooled emergency education funds, mobilisation through relevant AU mechanisms, possible AU Peace Fund support and closer donor alignment with CESA 2026–2035. The PSC may therefore deliberate on how to expand these financing options while directing resources towards emergency preparedness, teacher remuneration, host-community education services and sustainable education data systems.

The expected outcome of the session is a communiqué. The Council may condemn attacks on learners, teachers and education facilities and demand an end to the military use of schools. In this regard, the PSC may underscore the importance of the Safe School Declaration in advancing protection of education. The PSC may emphasise its integration into military doctrine, training, and child-sensitive risk assessment. Welcoming the appointment of the AU Special Envoy on Children Affected by Conflict and to advance implementation, the PSC may task the AU Special Envoy, working closely with the Special Rapporteur of ACERWC on Children in Conflict Situations, to regularly document and report on incidents of attacks and military use and facilitate investigation and accountability. It may also assign the Special Envoy to follow up and report on the implementation of the decisions of the 1229^th and the 1296^th sessions of the PSC. The Council may call for education continuity interventions to be integrated into mediation, ceasefires, humanitarian access, stabilisation and post-conflict reconstruction processes, while encouraging support for affected learners and personnel, and restoration of the civilian character of education facilities. The PSC may welcome the launch of AU Decade of Accelerated Action for the Transformation of Education and Skills Development in Africa, 2025–2034. The Council may also task the AU Commission, particularly the Departments of ESTI, HHS and PAPS, to develop joint action plan to advance a) the adoption by states of adequately financed, gender-responsive and disability-inclusive emergency education plans and b) the protection and remuneration of teachers, strengthening of host-community schools and provision of temporary, accelerated, flexible and viable offline learning arrangements for displaced and other conflict-affected children.