GCPEA said in the executive summary that the incidents harmed at least 10,600 school and university students, teachers, professors and other education personnel. The coalition said it identified reports of attacks on education in 83 countries, including 28 conflict-affected countries profiled in the report and 55 other countries with sporadic reports or attacks outside an armed-conflict classification.
The report separates the total into 6,650 reported attacks on education and 1,912 cases of military use of schools and universities in the 28 profiled countries, according to the executive summary. GCPEA said attacks on schools remained the most common category, with more than 3,000 reports, while attacks on school students, teachers and other education personnel accounted for about 2,990 reports.
GCPEA reported attacks on education and military use, 2024-2025. Source: GCPEA, Education under Attack 2026.
GCPEA's publication page says the 2026 edition is the eighth report in the Education under Attack series and profiles 28 countries that experienced at least 10 attacks on education in the previous two years. The coalition describes the report as a global study of attacks on schools, universities, students and staff during 2024 and 2025.
The highest incidence of attacks on education was recorded in Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Haiti, Palestine and Ukraine, according to GCPEA's report site and executive summary. GCPEA said Ukraine experienced around 900 attacks on schools, while at least 2,400 attacks on school students, teachers and personnel were recorded in Palestine.
The highest numbers of people harmed or killed as a result of attacks on education were reported in Myanmar, Nigeria, Yemen and Cameroon, according to GCPEA's report site and executive summary. The coalition said more than 1,700 students and staff were killed or injured in those four countries, more than 700 students and staff were reportedly kidnapped in Nigeria, and reports from Myanmar indicated at least 80 students and staff killed and at least 240 injured.
The Guardian, reporting on the report's launch on 15 June, cited GCPEA's finding that military forces or armed groups occupying schools or universities nearly doubled from the previous two-year period. GCPEA's executive summary gives the current count as 1,912 cases, compared with around 1,000 in 2022-2023.
GCPEA defines attacks on education as threatened or actual uses of force by state armed forces or non-state armed groups against students, education personnel, educational infrastructure or educational materials, according to its methodology PDF. The report's categories include attacks on schools; attacks on students, teachers and other education personnel; child recruitment at or on the way to or from school; sexual violence at or on the way to or from school or university; attacks on higher education; and military use of schools and universities.