09/03/2026

MONDAY | MAR 9, 2026

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COMMENT by Umayal Eswaran

Schools should never be battlegrounds A GIRLS’ elementary school in Minab, Iran, was struck during military operations on March 1. The attack students were killed, abducted, arrested or harmed during this period alone.

According to the Save the Children analysis, attacks on schools, teachers and students tripled from 790 in 2020 to 2,445 in 2024, an almost three-fold increase in just five years. The UN reported over 41,000 incidents of violence against school-age children in 2024. The countries most affected tell the story of a world failing its children: Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory recorded 8,554 violations, the Democratic Republic of the Congo 4,043, Somalia 2,568, Nigeria 2,436, and Haiti 2,269. In Ukraine alone, 1,850 educational facilities have been damaged since the conflict began, with 5.3 million children facing barriers to education and 115,000 completely out of school. When promises aren’t enough The international community is not without tools to address this crisis. As of November 2025, 122 countries have endorsed the Safe Schools Declaration, a political commitment launched in 2015 to protect students, teachers, schools and universities from attacks during armed conflict. Unesco (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) has noted that pupils in places dedicated to learning are protected under international humanitarian law. Despite these commitments, the violence continues to escalate. The declaration, while important, remains non-binding. Countries can endorse it while failing to implement concrete protective measures. The reduction in foreign aid by major donors in 2025 has had a devastating impact on education services in crisis contexts, with humanitarian actors forced to reduce their funding requests by 33% for education, leaving more than 33 million people in need outside the I remember one girl in “ Projek BacaBaca ”, a reading programme based at the School of Education, who rarely spoke during the early sessions. She avoided reading aloud and kept her answers short, worried about getting them wrong. Over time, as her reading improved, something changed. She began to sit up straighter, started volunteering answers and smiled more. With each paragraph she learned to read, her confidence grew. Her world had not physically changed but her place within it had. She is not alone. In Malaysia, almost every child goes to school, yet many still struggle to read with confidence and understanding. They move from year to year, present in the classroom but are unable to fully participate in learning. For girls, this can shape how they see themselves, what they believe they are capable of and whether they feel that education truly belongs to them.

reportedly killed at least 165 people and injured many others, most of them schoolgirls aged seven to 12 who were simply attending class. Children changing classes, some excited about their next lesson and teachers settling their students. The smallest, most ordinary moments of a school morning, erased without warning or justification. There is no strategic calculus that makes this acceptable. Having spent years building safe learning spaces for vulnerable children through our work at Taarana and Rythm Foundation, it is incomprehensible how anyone justifies targeting a school. Without access to education, children in conflict zones are denied not only knowledge but also safety, stability and the sense of normalcy that schools provide. In the end, an entire generation grows up knowing only war as their potential is stifled before it can blossom. The tragedy in Iran is not an isolated incident; it is part of a global crisis that demands our immediate attention and action. Devastating numbers The statistics paint a horrifying picture of our collective failure to protect children’s most fundamental right – the right to safe education. According to the 2025 UN Secretary-General’s Annual Report on Children and Armed Conflict, there was a 44% increase in attacks against schools in 2024, compared to the previous year. For every 100 school attacks in 2023, there were 144 in 2024. Between 2022 and 2023, there were around 6,000 attacks targeting students, educators and educational institutions globally. The use of schools for military purposes rose by 20%, and over 10,000

The statistics paint a horrifying picture of our collective failure to protect children’s most fundamental right - the right to safe education. – REUTERSPIC

The children of Minab should be doing their homework tonight. Instead, families are planning funerals. This is not the world we promised our children but it is the one we have created through our inaction. The children of the world are watching. They are asking whether we will protect their right to dream, to learn and to build a better future. Our answer cannot be another conference, another declaration and another empty promise. Our answer must be action. Umayal Eswaran is chairperson of Rythm Foundation and founder of Taarana, Malaysia’s first dedicated centre for children with special needs. She has spent over a decade working to create inclusive educational opportunities for vulnerable children across Southeast Asia and beyond. Comments: letters@thesundaily.com It gave me the ability to move across countries, across cultures and now across digital spaces that did not exist when I was young. As we observe International Women’s Day and speak about rights, justice and action, we must remember where those rights begin. Literacy made it possible for me to cross borders and it continues to shape how I move through the world today. Every girl deserves that same freedom – not only to go somewhere but to know she can. Hema Letchamanan is a senior lecturer and programme director of Postgraduate Taught Programmes at the School of Education, Taylor’s University. She is passionate about literacy and access to quality education for marginalised communities. Comments: letters@thesundaily.com

systems. Beyond governments, civil society organisations sustaining education in conflict zones must be protected, as attacks on schools rarely happen in isolation from broader crackdowns on the people working to rebuild them. Technology also plays an important role. Early warning systems, real-time monitoring of educational facilities and coordination platforms can enable faster and more effective responses when schools come under threat. Personal call to action Children deserve to believe that schools are safe: the little girl in rural Malaysia learning to read, the boy with autism discovering his musical talents and the indigenous child maintaining her cultural identity while gaining new skills. They all need the same thing – a classroom where they can learn without fear.

scope of aid planning.

What must be done Countries which attack schools must face real consequences. The International Criminal Court should prioritise attacks on educational institutions as war crimes while economic sanctions must hold perpetrators accountable. Funding is also a form of protection, with 33% cut to humanitarian education budgets in crisis contexts is unconscionable at a moment when attacks are rising by 44%, and that funding must be restored with an emphasis on local leadership. The upcoming Fifth International Conference on the Safe Schools Declaration in Nairobi must produce binding commitments, not just renewed promises. Countries must legislate protections, train military personnel and establish monitoring

COMMENT by Hema Letchamanan

Literacy: The first freedom every girl deserves IN my early twenties, I left Malaysia to study in the United Kingdom. It was my first time living so far from home.

This is how inequality begins, not always through the absence of schooling, but through the absence of literacy. And this foundation matters even more today. When I first began using artificial intelligence tools in my work, I was struck by how easily one could accept what was presented without question. Literacy allows us to pause, evaluate and decide what is meaningful. It allows us to remain active participants in a world increasingly shaped by information and technology. When we speak about women’s rights, we often focus on leadership, representation and equal pay. These are important goals but they are also built on opportunities that begin much earlier. They begin with whether a girl is given the chance to become a reader. Reading does more than help a child perform well in school; it gives her independence, allows her to make sense of the world, form her own views and imagine a future beyond what she sees around her.

“In Malaysia, almost every child goes to

I still remember my first few seminars. Students spoke with ease, referring to books and ideas that were unfamiliar to me. I listened more than I spoke. Later, I went back and read, and slowly things began to make sense – reading helped me find my footing. My work later took me to different communities in Malaysia, India and Nepal. Once again, I found myself in unfamiliar spaces, listening to people speak about their lives and their experiences with education. The ability to read, question and make connections helped me to understand what I was seeing and take part in those conversations. Looking back, I realise how much of that journey was made possible through literacy. But not every girl is given that same foundation.

school, yet many still struggle to read with

confidence and understanding.