AFRICA - Global number of children attending school increases, however many in war-torn nations unable to attend school due to conflict

Nairobi (Agenzia Fides) – The number of primary-school-age children who go to school has increased globally, but countries affected by conflict still have large numbers missing out on an education. This is what a recent report entitled “The Future is Now,” published by the Save the Children Alliance, says. Of the 72 million children out of school (down from 115 million in 2006), 39 million live in war-torn nations. “As well as killing and injuring of millions of children, conflict forces millions of families to flee their homes, separates children from their families and destroys education,” it notes. In Liberia, 73% of children are out of school and in Somalia, 81% have no access to education. In Afghanistan's Uruzgan, Helmand, and Badges provinces, 80% are in the same situation. Conflict affects education in various ways. In the Democratic Republic of Congo's Equateur Province, worried parents kept their children at home in April because militias were at large. In the Province of South Kivu, hundreds of children missed exams in April because of battles between rival militia factions. In Yemen in May, rebels occupied a number of schools in the northern Saada governorate, preventing thousands of children from attending classes. In Pakistan, 356 schools were destroyed by militias in the Swat District. In Southern Sudan, only 14% of children attended school during two decades of conflict that ended in 2005. In Angola, at least two million have enrolled in school, but 1.2 million are still out. Only 54% complete primary school. Also, in Iraq, 22% of school-age children failed to attend school in 2007, 77% of them being female. (AP) (Agenzia Fides 24/5/2010)