Conflict keeps millions out of school in Africa

Ongoing conflicts across West and Central Africa have disrupted the education of around 2.8 million children, according to a recent United Nations report. Over 14,000 schools in the regions were closed by the second quarter of 2024 —  1,000 more schools than the previous year.

The global number of out-of-school children totals 250 million, according to 2023 UNESCO figures. Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for close to 30% of all out-of-school children around the world, and the number is on the rise. 

Armed conflicts have ravaged communities and displaced many people. 

"The key challenge they are facing then is not related to getting an education, but rather how to access basic survival needs — food, water, and medical services," Dr. Ibrahim Baba Shatambaya, a political science lecturer at Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto, Nigeria, told DW. 

Then there is the issue of violence directly affecting schools. "Education is under siege in West and Central Africa. The deliberate targeting of schools and the systemic denial of education because of conflict is nothing short of a catastrophe," said Hassane Hamadou, Norwegian Refugee Council regional director.

Countries like Nigeria, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Mali, and the Democratic Republic of Congo are bearing the brunt of this crisis as schools are repeatedly attacked by armed groups.

Devastation in Nigeria

Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, is facing a severe education crisis. Over 15.23 million children are out of school, according to UNESCO.

The problem is largely affecting the northern part of the country, which has been besieged by the Boko Haram insurgency and kidnapping crisis in the past decades.

The regional disparity is confirmed in figures showing that the Northwest and Northeast regions of Nigeria count 8.04 million and 5.06 million out-of-school children, respectively, compared to 2.58 million in southern Nigeria.

"In the case of Northwest Nigeria, kidnappings, and other forms of criminality,have made that part of the country unstable," Shatambaya said.

The reasons for the prevalence of conflicts in these regions are multifaceted, says Dr. Michael Ndimancho, a political analyst at the University of Douala in Cameroon.
"When you look at countries like Nigeria and Cameroon ... there are many historical issues at play," he said, mentioning the example of the Boko Haram insurgency. "And in West and Central Africa, you have the problem of borders which are not only large but very porous."

For Shatambaya, it is more a question of governance in Nigeria at the local, state and federal levels. He says government measures so far have not been adequate. "Each of these actors has a stake in managing crises associated with conflicts and other social ills like the forced movement of people," he said.

Cameroon's shattered futures

The Anglophone regions of Cameroon are facing a similar situation.

According to UN and UNICEF figures, over 700,000 children in 2021, and 855,000 in 2019 were out of school in Northwest and Southwest Cameroon, where armed separatist groups have targeted schools.

"It is quite alarming that we have up to 2.8 million children who have been out of school," Biezel Mafor, a civil society activist from Cameroon, told DW. "Unfortunately, Cameroonhas not been left out of this statistic, and with the crisis going on, it is quite sad that these children see their dreams being shattered."

For the last several years, the Anglophone regions of the country have been involved in a separatist conflict between the Cameroonian government and Ambazonian separatist groups, as well as infighting among different separatist groups. Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced and thousands killed.

Many children in these regions of the country have been out of school for years. Valentine Tameh, a Cameroonian teacher and trade unionist, says the situation is getting worse.

"There is bleakness and despondency as you see children who are just drifting, and they do not know what life holds for them in the future," he said. "There is school infrastructure that has been completely devastated. Many stakeholders of education are being threatened, kidnapped, and even killed."

Students like Angel Mbah are among those whose education has been disrupted by the ongoing armed conflict in Cameroon.

"When the crisis started, my parents were no longer receiving their salaries regularly. They had to do odd jobs to send me to school. In 2019, I had to move to the Littoral region, but many students who didn't have such opportunities have become pregnant, some at 11 and 12 years old," Mbah said.

Consequences for an entire generation

The long-term effects of millions of children being denied access to education are already being felt across the African continent. Ndimancho warns of catastrophic ramifications.

"If you want to destroy a country, simply don't give a child a pen," he told DW. "Children are being transformed into terrorists, and the effects are already showing through underdevelopment, unemployment and corruption."

Efforts to address this education crisis around the continent have been inconsistent, according to the experts. While international organizations like the United Nations have provided some aid, critics say their efforts are not enough to resolve the root causes. 

"This problem will only be solved by Africans," said Ndimancho. He criticizes the role of international organizations, arguing that conflicts continue to grow and external bodies often fall short in their interventions.

Shatambaya echoes this sentiment, noting that while international organizations have provided support, the real responsibility lies with local governments.

"The government should come up with a clear plan to target these displaced people ... to provide their immediate needs in terms of food, shelter, clothing, sanitation, and health services," he told DW.

Need for broad action

Behind the statistics are individual lives — children whose futures are beingdarkened due to conflicts . For some students, like Nyianchi Leondel, a student in Cameroon's Anglophone region, who manages to attend lessons, the conflict creates conditions that are not conducive to effective learning.

"When we were writing our official exam, the GCE, and we had military guards throughout. We would hear gunshots. A day after we sat for the exam, they burned our school," she told DW.

The devastation is widespread, and without immediate action, an entire generation risks being lost to violence, poverty and a lack of opportunities.

Killian Ngalla and Josey Mahachi contributed to this article.