Millions of children across West and Central Africa are at risk of encountering violence and can no longer seek refuge at school. More than 9,000 schools in eight countries — Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, Niger, and Nigeria — have been shut down as of June 2019, according to a recent report from UNICEF. The number of schools that forcibly closed between the end of 2017 and June 2019 tripled due to an uptick in violent attacks and the closures have affected more than 1.9 million children and nearly 44,000 teachers. The rising violence and insecurity has put children at a higher risk of recruitment by armed groups, exploitation, child marriage, and early pregnancy. UNICEF is working with education authorities and communities to support alternative methods of learning, such as community learning centers, educational radio programs, and psychosocial support initiatives to help children deal with the trauma they’ve experienced. Pictured here, a group of young students attend 'radio school' lessons in Baigaï, a village in Cameroon, on May, 26, 2019. UNICEF and the Children’s Radio Foundation have collaborated to design this first-of-its-kind Radio Education in Emergencies program. For children in crisis-affected areas who cannot physically go to school, this prototype initiative provides up to nine months of lessons in literacy and numeracy over broadcast. Read more about the report at this link. (📷: © Tanya Bindra/UN0329179/UNICEF)
