LAHORE – The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has cited efforts to destroy the education system in the countries hit by conflict, a report published in The Guardian said. The annual report on the state of education, the UNESCO says the Israeli military attacks in Gaza left almost 300 schools in rubble and 350 children dead, while the targeted attacks by insurgents in Yemen, Thailand, Pakistan and Afghanistan are also aimed for the same purpose. In Afghanistan, the security fears have resulted in the closure of more than 70 percent of schools in Helmand and Zabul provinces.
The report highlights the way in which aid to the conflict-affected countries is skewed towards states seen as strategic priorities, like Afghanistan, which receives more aid than the combined total for the DRC, Sudan and Liberia. Similarly, Iraq In 2008 managed to get more aid than that provided for all conflict-affected countries in Africa.
The UNESCO says 21 of the world’s poorest countries spend more on arms than basic education, noting that a 10 percent cut in military spending can attract an additional 9.5 million children to the schools. With some of the worst education indicators in the world, Chad spent four times as much on the military as on schooling, while Pakistan, which has one of the world’s largest out-of-school populations, could finance universal primary education with just one-fifth of its military budget.
The United Nations also accuses the world leaders of ‘turning a blind eye’ to the systematic rape in conflict countries as it calls for those responsible to be charged by the international criminal court (ICC) in the Hague. It says the barbarous acts of sexual violence are having a profound impact on girls’ schooling, adding that in 35 countries affected by conflict there are 28 million children out of school, 42 percent of the world total.
Wars also lead to some of the biggest inequalities between girls and boys in school enrolment, while child malnutrition levels are twice the average for developing nations.
