A spike in violence in the North Kivu region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has forced 540 schools to close in the past year, a new Save the Children International (SCI) analysis has said.
In the report released on Thursday, the charity organisation said the violence has created chaos for children and put them at risk of being forcefully recruited by armed forces.
“Since the beginning of 2024, violence has forced about 190 schools to close their doors,” SCI said, citing an analysis of data from the education cluster — a coordination mechanism made up of education actors that assess needs and prioritise humanitarian responses.
Additionally, over the past year, there have been at least two reported cases of teachers being kidnapped, along with two incidents involving the abduction of students either at school or on their way to class.
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The closure of schools in the region has left about 270,000 children out of education, putting them at risk of being without the essential skills they will need to build a future, the report added.
“We played football at recess, then the bell rang, and we went into the classroom. Only a few minutes later, we saw the armed men coming out from the eucalyptus trees. They came to our school firing bullets. I heard explosions and other loud noises. We fled, without even thinking, everyone fled into another direction,” SCI quoted a child who witnessed an attack at school.
“People walked for two days; people were separated from their families. Children without parents and parents without their children. As bullets kept on flying, we headed to Goma, which is how we arrived at the displacement camp in Goma.”
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The charity organisation said attacks on schools leave deep emotional and psychological scars on children and can negatively impact their ability to develop.
The current wave of violence follows a tumultuous year of heightened outbreaks of conflict in North Kivu in 2023, when intensified fighting in the east of the country displaced more than 1 million people, including at least 500,000 children.
At least 250,000 people, including about 130,000 children, have been forced to flee their homes in North Kivu since February 2024 alone, with more than 2.6 million people — about 30 percent of the population in the region — displaced since 2022.
The analysis also comes amid the recent surge in abductions of school children in northern parts of Nigeria.
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Earlier this month, bandits attacked Kuriga community in Chikun LGA, Kaduna, and invaded the primary and secondary schools.
Sani Abdullahi, a teacher at Government Secondary School Kuriga, had said 287 students were missing after the attack.
Two days later, bandits were reported to have abducted some Tsangaya students at Gidan Bakuso in Gada LGA of Sokoto.
“Schools must be protected as safe spaces that provide shelter from harm and the opportunity to learn and play,” SCI said.
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