When bombs steal classrooms but not our dreams

What does it mean when your right to education is not protected? To mark this International Day to Protect Education from Attack on September 9, World Vision Canada asked Elisha Byalungwe, Inclusion Specialist with the Refugee Education Council , to share his story.

The bombshell struck our school

In 2009, I was in Secondary 3 (S3) in my home country, the Democratic Republic of Congo. I was 15 years old. I still remember the day the bombshell struck our school. One moment, we had classrooms, teachers and dreams. The next, there was nothing but rubble and silence.

It happened during the school holidays. When we returned, there was nothing left, just shattered walls, broken desks and memories. We were “lucky” because the bombing happened while we were away. But luck felt meaningless. Our dreams had been attacked.

For the next two years, we studied under makeshift tarpaulin shelters. There were no proper classrooms, no safe spaces to learn. When it rained, lessons stopped. When the wind blew, our notes scattered across the muddy ground.

I still remember holding my soaked exercise book one day, wondering if education – the one thing I had always believed no one could take away from me – could really survive. That moment planted in me a truth I carry to this day: when schools are attacked, dreams are shattered.

Carrying invisible scars

Years later I became a teacher in Congo, standing in front of students who carried the same hopes I once had. Schools were closing because of fighting. Parents kept their children at home, fearing for their safety. Children were forced to choose between their education and their lives.

When I later fled to Uganda and worked as a teacher assistant in a refugee settlement, I met students escaping the same conflicts I had survived. Families crossed borders hoping to find safety and education, but their journeys were filled with heartbreak.

I worked with children who carried invisible scars. Some had lost their classmates in attacks. Others had seen their schools burned to the ground. Even in Uganda, where they sought refuge, education was not guaranteed. Overcrowded classrooms, limited resources, and trauma made learning an uphill battle. For children with disabilities, the barriers were even greater. Conflict, displacement and exclusion combined to push them further away from opportunities they desperately deserved.

Schools are more than just classrooms

In April 2025, I attended the Global Disability Summit in Berlin, Germany, where advocates, educators and leaders from around the world gathered to push for stronger commitments to inclusive education.

One of the summit’s strongest messages was clear: inclusive education must remain a priority, even in emergencies. In times of conflict, when education is attacked, learners with disabilities are often the first excluded and the last considered. Their right to education is sidelined, and their futures are put even more at risk.

We discussed how schools are more than classrooms. They are safe spaces. In refugee camps and conflict zones, schools protect children from recruitment into armed groups, child marriage, exploitation and violence. When schools are destroyed or shut down, children lose far more than lessons; they lose protection, hope and dignity.

For me, these conversations were not abstract policies or theories. I have lived through these realities. I have seen children struggling to rebuild their lives after their classrooms were reduced to ashes. I have met refugee learners who walked for hours just to sit under a tree and continue their education. And I have seen how children with disabilities, more specifically those with mobility and sensory impairments, are often left behind when systems fail. There is no time to think about ramps or any other enablers for them at school.

An attack on hope

Today, as an Inclusion Specialist with the Refugee Education Council (REC), I work to ensure that refugee learners, especially those with disabilities, are not forgotten. I carry with me the memories of my destroyed school in Congo, the silent classrooms under tarpaulins and the refugee children whispering their fears in Uganda.

I advocate because I know what is at stake. Attacks on education are attacks on hope itself. They don’t just destroy buildings, they also steal dreams and limit futures.

Globally, more than 234 million children and youth in crisis-affected countries face these threats every day. Schools are bombed, teachers are targeted and students are recruited into armed groups. These are not just numbers, they are individual lives, stories and lost potential.

Education is more than textbooks and exams. It is protection. It is healing. It is freedom.

Education must be protected

On September 9, the International Day to Protect Education from Attack, I join the world in a global call to action to ensure that education remains a pillar of peace, conflict prevention and inclusion. We must end attacks on education, ensuring that schools are safe havens where all learners, regardless of ability or background, can find protection, hope and dignity.

Let's commit to investing in inclusive and resilient education systems that integrate mental health support, expand access for girls and learners with disabilities, and empower refugee and displaced children and youth to become peacebuilders and changemakers.

No child should ever sit in a classroom wondering if it will still be standing tomorrow. No learner should ever have to choose between safety and education. When education is attacked, we all lose hope, dignity and the future itself. But when we protect education, we protect dreams.

Safe Schools Declaration

Ten years ago, in May 2015, the inter-governmental Safe Schools Declaration was launched in Oslo, Norway. To date, 121 states have signed on and endorsed it through policy, law, military doctrine and global discourse. Still, attacks on schools, school children, teachers and education continue to grow worldwide, with a 25% increase in violations against children between 2023 and 2024.

The guiding principles of this declaration are:

Every boy and girl has the right to an education without fear of violence or attack.

Every teacher, professor, and school administrator should be able to teach and research in conditions of safety, security, and dignity.

Every school should be a protected space for students to learn, and fulfil their potential, even during war.

Every university should be a safe place for students and academics and to foster critical and independent thinking, and to harness knowledge.