The 2023 school year in Southern Cameroons was severely disrupted by a “lockdown” imposed by the Southern Cameroons Interim Government from September 9 to 23. In a recent report, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) highlights an increase in attacks on schools, students, and teaching staff, further endangering access to education in this conflict zone.

According to OCHA, violence prevented many students and teachers from reaching their schools. At least four attacks were recorded, including three in the North West and one in the South West, affecting public, religious, and secular private institutions alike.

Among the incidents documented by the UN were the burning of a public secondary school in the South West region and the placement of an improvised explosive device at a public secondary school in the North West, both on September 10. Additionally, there were reports of student and staff abductions during the back-to-school period. Ambazonia fighters reportedly “intercepted about twenty students on their way to school in the North-West, confiscated and destroyed all their school materials, including books, and forced them to return home,” OCHA’s report states.

Since clashes erupted in 2017 between the army and the Southern Cameroons Restoration Forces, both the Cameroon government military and Ambazonia fighters have frequently targeted school infrastructure to disrupt classes. Numerous teachers and students have been killed in attacks by government soldiers and Southern Cameroons fighters, underscoring the perilous state of education in the territory.

Reported by Sbbc with additional editing by Camcordnews