Report: West, Central Africa violence closes 9,000 schools

The United Nations Children’s Agency says more than 9,000 schools have closed and more than 1.9 million children in West and Central Africa have been forced out of school because of increasing violence in the region and attacks specifically targeting education facilities.

In a Friday report, the organization says attacks on schools in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, where an Islamic extremist insurgency has grown, have doubled in the past two years. It says those countries have seen a six-fold increase in school closures because of the violence.

Insecurity in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions has left more than 4,400 schools forcibly closed since 2017.

UNICEF has called on governments, armed forces and those in the conflict to take action to stop attacks and threats against schools, students and teachers.