Education at Risk: A Threat to a Generation in West Africa

In the abandoned classrooms of West and Central Africa, the silence is deafening. More than 14,000 schools have closed their doors as of June 2024, victims of growing insecurity that is ravaging the region.

This unprecedented education crisis threatens the future of millions of children, underscoring the urgent need for concerted action to protect the fundamental right to education. The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) is sounding the alarm on the International Day to Protect Education from Attack. “The future of an entire generation is at stake,” the organization says, highlighting the scale of the challenge facing countries such as Burkina Faso, Mali, Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In these conflict-torn nations, armed violence and intercommunal tensions have made schools a prime target. In Burkina Faso, the picture is particularly bleak: in 2023, one in four schools ceased to function, leaving thousands of students without access to education. This alarming situation is not limited to classrooms; it fuels a vicious cycle of vulnerability, exposing children to forced labor, recruitment by armed groups, and various forms of violence.