Statement by Commissioner Lahbib ahead of the International Day to Protect Education from Attack

Imagine a classroom. What do you see?

A blackboard. The reassuring smile of a teacher. The first powerful emotions of life: the joy of learning, the sense of achievement. Our first friendships, and our first dreams for the future.

If, like me, this is what you see when you imagine a classroom, then we are among the lucky ones. Because for millions of children around the world, a classroom no longer means safety. It means fear. It means uncertainty. Sometimes, a classroom is simply no longer there.

In 2024–2025, more than 8,500 attacks on education facilities, staff and students were reported across 28 conflict-affected countries, according to the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack. Schools were shelled, seized, and turned into barracks. At least 10,600 students and teachers were harmed. Attacks rose by more than 40% compared with the previous two years.

Attacks on education are only part of the violence children face in conflict. Last year alone, some 38,000 grave violations were verified against more than 24,000 children. These children should have been sitting at a desk, not counted in a report.

When a school is destroyed, we lose more than walls and classrooms. We destroy a place where dreams are born, where futures are built, where children can imagine a different world. Education must never become casualty of war. No child should pay the price of a conflict they did not start.

Too often, a bombed school is written off as collateral damage. But schools and civilians are protected under international law. And International law is increasingly treated like a menu of voluntary options. This must stop.

All parties to armed conflicts must stop attacking schools, stop using them for military purposes, and let protection workers reach children safely. Every violation must be documented, investigated and answered for, including through United Nations-led mechanisms. Without accountability, we teach the world a terrible lesson: that a child's education can be destroyed at no cost.

Protecting education is not a humanitarian afterthought. In a humanitarian crisis, education is itself a basic need. It gives children a place where they can see friends, eat a meal, speak to an adult they trust, and, for a few hours, simply be a child. That is why the European Union supports education as part of its emergency humanitarian response, alongside food, shelter, health and protection. We support those working to keep classrooms open. We demand that schools be protected, and we press for justice when they are attacked.

We cannot wait for the guns to fall silent. Every school that stays open keeps a child's future alive.