Tomorrow (21 August), the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council (PSC) will convene its 1229^th session focusing on inclusive education in conflict situations.

The Permanent Representative of Botswana to the AU and Chairperson of the PSC for the month of August 2024, Tebelelo Boang, will deliver opening remarks followed by Bankole Adeoye, AU Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security (PAPS). Professor Mohammed Belhocine, AU Commissioner for Education, Science, Technology and Innovation will brief the PSC. Bruce Mokaya Orina, Head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Delegation to the AU is also expected to make a presentation alongside a representative of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

Tomorrow’s session is being convened as one of the follow-up commitments by AU member states during the High-Level Side Event on “Transforming Education in Africa” held at the margins of the global Transforming Education Summit (TES) and the 77^th United Nations General Assembly, on 20 September 2022. It is also being held within the framework of the AU theme of 2024 which is ‘Educate an African fit for the 21^st Century: Building resilient education systems for increased access to inclusive, lifelong, quality and relevant learning in Africa.’ Given Africa’s ongoing and widespread conflicts, addressing the devastating effects on education is crucial for minimising the impacts of conflicts and break the cycle of violence.

The open session is expected to address at least three inter-related issues. The first of these concerns the kind of challenges that arise for education in conflict situations. The second set of issues concerns the different manifestations of the impact of conflicts on education in territories affected by conflict in various parts of the continent. The third set of issues addresses what these challenges and manifestations of the impact of conflicts on education mean for the mandate of the PSC and how the PSC may build on and take forward its previous engagements on the issue.

The challenges to education arising in conflict situations can be categorised into four categories. The first category relates to the impact on the students and teachers as they become victims of violence and are forced into displacement due to the conflict and into joining the ranks of fighters as well as due to the disruption that the conflict causes to essential services and access to basic necessities. The second category is a manifestation of breaches of international humanitarian law as the education system including education facilities are damaged and destroyed. Third, there is the practice of the occupation of education facilities by armed groups and their use for military purposes. Finally, it is worth highlighting that women and girls in the education system are disproportionately affected by the adverse consequences of conflicts on education.

Recently, Sudan has become the world’s largest child displacement crisis, with over 4 million children forced from their homes, since April 2023, including nearly 1 million children crossing into neighbouring countries. This has led to the country having one of the worst education crises in the world, with more than 90% of the country’s 19 million school-age children having no access to formal education. On 14 August 2024, at least five children were reportedly killed and 20 injured in shelling of a school and market in El Obeid city. To date, most schools remain closed for the second school year in a row. More than 17 million, of the 19 million school-aged children, are out of school. More than 110 schools and hospitals have been attacked since the beginning of the conflict and hundreds of schools are used as shelters for the internally displaced, constraining access to education in areas where schools have been partially opened. Thousands have been killed or injured and many more have suffered grave violations including sexual violence, forced recruitment and other horrific abuses. The number of these grave violations against children has increased dramatically from 2022 to 2023, and, sad to say, the problem continues to worsen.

In the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), about 900,000 children aged 6 to 17 are out of school due to armed conflicts in the region.  This contributed to the 1.3 million children being out of school in the country. North Kivu province, for instance, has been particularly affected with nearly 1,000 primary schools closed in the first quarter of 2024.

In the Central African Republic Children continue to suffer greatly from ongoing violence, displacement and natural disasters. The country has been engulfed in a decade-long cycle of violence and instability. A brutal conflict erupted in the capital, Bangui, in late 2013, and despite brief periods of calm, widespread fighting continued, with civilians bearing the impetus of the attacks. A peace agreement signed in 2019, however, failed to bring lasting peace. While the intensity of violence has eased somewhat since the height of the 2021 crisis, the country remains in a dire humanitarian situation. Even though there has been some improvement in security, nearly half the country’s population, including 1.3 million children, still needs humanitarian aid. Ongoing conflict, displacement and natural disasters continue to devastate families, especially those in the most vulnerable communities. UNICEF data reveals a dire humanitarian situation with 1.4 million children in urgent need of assistance. In addition, around 514,000 people are internally displaced, while a total of 3.4 million people are requiring humanitarian aid.

In Ethiopia on the other hand, recent statistics show that ‘approximately 17 million children, spanning pre-primary, primary and junior secondary levels, are currently out of school with nearly half of them being girls. Additionally, an estimated 3.5 million children at primary and secondary levels are at risk of dropping out, further exacerbating the education crisis.’ In various parts of the country, school disruptions due to conflict and insecurity have resulted in numerous challenges, including increased school dropout rates and a rise in child marriage.

In Mali, according to the 2024 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan (HNRP), an estimated 7.1 million people need humanitarian assistance, 54% of them being children. In the context of the ongoing conflict involving terrorist groups, a staggering 1,024 grave violations were documented in 2022 alone. The escalating violence, as evidenced by a 76% increase in violent events between 2020 and 2023, has severely disrupted education. Over 1,700 schools have been closed, denying over half a million children access to learning and impacting thousands of teachers. This educational disruption has put children at heightened risk of exploitation and abuse. The convergence of conflict and climate change has created a humanitarian catastrophe with devastating consequences for children, leading to an increase in out-of-school children.

In northern Mozambique, recent attacks and the ensuing fear in Cabo Delgado, have caused a humanitarian crisis, displacing nearly 100,000 people, including over 60,000 children. This mass displacement has left children extremely vulnerable to violence, exploitation and recruitment by armed groups. Over 100 schools have been forced to close due to insecurity in Cabo Delgado and Nampula provinces, disrupting the education of more than 50,000 children. The crisis has also cut off essential services, including healthcare, nutrition and sanitation, for countless families.

In Somalia, decades of conflict have ravaged the country’s health and education systems, leaving them severely underfunded, inaccessible and ineffective. As a consequence, the vast majority of children – nearly 85% – are not enrolled in school.

The foregoing highlights of the impacts of conflict on education show the necessity for paying particular attention to promoting inclusive education in conflict-affected areas. This can be done through enhancing the protection of education facilities, supporting the continuing operation of schools and educational activities, prioritising support for education, particularly for female students and teachers, in designing and implementing humanitarian assistance for internally displaced people (IDPs), refugees and asylum seekers.  Thus, apart from the challenges and the various manifestations of the impact of conflicts on education, the open session is also expected to highlight some of the successful models of inclusive education in conflict situations. In this regard, it is expected to explore effective strategies and initiatives that have promoted inclusive education in conflict-affected regions of Africa. A specific example is in the Eastern DRC region where an alternative learning opportunity for displaced children has been introduced. The radio education program, launched in January 2024 has enabled children, by participating in listening clubs organised at displacement sites, to continue to learn and acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to pursue their education as soon as possible.

In terms of addressing critical issues, the PSC may follow up on its 597th session that called on all Member States in conflict situations to comply with international humanitarian law and to ensure that schools are not used for military purposes and its support for the ‘Safe Schools Guidelines,’ and urged all the other AU Member States, which have not yet done so, also to endorse these Guidelines. Going beyond the issue of protection of education facilities, the PSC during its 661st meeting underlined the ‘need for governments to institutionalise the protection of children within their disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) and security sector reform (SSR) programmes, as well as to include rehabilitation and opportunities for education to former child soldiers, particularly in countries emerging from conflicts.’ The PSC could also build on its 706th session, which, expressing ‘deep concern at the high number of out-of-school children in Africa, particularly in countries affected by armed conflict and the resultant effect of extreme poverty’, underscored the need to have an ‘enhanced coordination by the AU Commission Departments of Social Affairs, Political Affairs, Science and Technology and Peace and Security, amongst others, to address issues pertaining to child soldiers and out-of-school children, in particular, their education, health and security.’ In the same vein, the PSC ‘underscored the need for the AU to establish a comprehensive child protection architecture within the AU Commission, with a view to ensure the full implementation of various instruments adopted at the continental and international level to this effect.

The expected outcome of the session is a communiqué or a press statement. The PSC may express concern over the scale and dire state of the impact of conflicts on education and the implications of the high-level disruption of access to education to the attainment of the objectives of Agenda 2063. The PSC may call for the imperative for ensuring respect for and full compliance with the rules of international humanitarian law and, reiterating its previous sessions, urge all member states to endorse and promote the Safe School Declaration. Council may welcome the initiatives some Member States have taken to promote and protect the right of children to education and to facilitate the continuation of education in situations of armed conflicts. It may also call on humanitarian actors and states to prioritise the provision of education to IDPs, refugees and asylum seekers in their planning of the provision of humanitarian assistance. The PSC may also reiterate its call for ‘enhanced coordination by the AU Commission Departments of Social Affairs, Political Affairs, Science and Technology and Peace and Security, amongst others, to address issues pertaining to child soldiers and out-of-school children, in particular, their education, health and security.’ The PSC may also underscore the need for mainstreaming of measures for the protection of education facilities and creating conditions for enabling the provision of education in conflict settings in all AU peace and security initiatives as part of its role in promoting the protection of Civilians. It may also underscore the need for provision of unhindered humanitarian access as a key mechanism for facilitating opportunities for the provision of education opportunities for children affected by conflicts and psycho-social support. The PSC may also further underscore the need for prioritising enhanced support for the rehabilitation and speedy resumption of normal education processes as part of post-conflict reconstruction and development measures.