Conflict and war have a profound impact on all aspects of daily life, including the schooling of children. In most conflicts, education comes to a standstill - either because the fighting makes it impossible for children to attend school or because teachers flee the area. In some wars, for instance in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, schools have had to close because they were targeted as recruitment grounds for rebel forces.
 Christopher Talbot, programme specialist at UNESCO  Listen to the full interview with Christopher Talbot |
Nevertheless, educational experts believe that schooling is essential during times of war. "Education saves lives," says Christopher Talbot, a programme specialist at UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation.
Schools can help children learn survival skills, such as how to avoid landmines and HIV/AIDS. They're also much more effective at teaching children and their parents about hygiene and health issues than door-to-door visits by social workers or medical professionals.
High priority
Parents and communities tend to put a very high priority on schooling during conflicts. They often take special measures to ensure that education can continue, for example by paying teachers in kind for their services.
Children too are keen to continue their schooling. Mr Talbot recalls one particular example of this. He was visiting a refugee camp for southern Sudanese children in northern Kenya. He says:
"There were a whole bunch of teenage boys walking along the streets, holding hands and reciting their science lessons to one another from their textbooks."
 Girls school in Afghanistan |
Hatred
In times of conflict, particularly civil war, it is difficult to decide what to teach pupils about the causes of the war. There is a real danger, says the UNESCO expert, of a resurgence of ethnic or religious hatred. So, he adds, "it is crucial that the curriculum and textbooks be carefully vetted to ensure that messages that incite hatred and discrimination are removed".
Even after a war or conflict has finished, it takes time for societies to reach a consensus about the reasons behind the outbreak of violence. Rwanda, for instance, only recently decided to start teaching students about the roots of the genocide in 1994 that left three-quarters of a million people dead.
Normality
Listen to an interview with Carole Baudoin, senior emergency and rehabilitation specialist for UNICEF
During times of conflict, children need some sense of normality, and school can provide that, says Mr Talbot. "Schooling provides a chance for relaxation and self-expression and just to play together. This is extraordinarily important for their psychological well-being. It's a kind of distraction from the sorrow and sufferings they have been through."
Schools also provide hope, says Mr Talbot. Children who are able to learn and study for national exams have a hope that one day they will graduate, get a job and have a better future.
 Children going to school during the war in Angola |
Healing wounds
One of the most crucial roles schools can play during times of conflict is overcoming barriers and bringing children and parents from opposing sides back together again. Mr Talbot has seen numerous examples of communities coming together simply because they had to rebuild a destroyed school. "It's a tremendously unifying factor," he says.
Schools can also help impart vital peace and conflict resolution skills to children. Mr Talbot recalls one peace education programme in particular in East Africa. During a visit to a camp for Somali refugees in Kenya, he says, "a middle-aged Somali refugee woman told me about her 18-year-old son who had been dealing in qat, the drug that is often used in the Horn of Africa. He'd attended a series of peace education workshops, and it had so changed his approach that he was quite a new man. She was in tears of gratitude.
She said quite bluntly: ‘I don't want any money. I don't want a job. I'm going back to Baidoa, my town in Somalia, quite soon. Please give me one set of the teaching materials for this course in Somali. I want to teach this course to my people because we need it back home.'"
Tags: children, Chris Talbot, education, freedom, human rights, learn, parents, school, students, UNESCO, wartime