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EDUCATION UNDER ATTACK 2014
Reported motives and perpetrators of attacks
The reported motives for attacks on schools, students
and teachers include, in no particular order, to:
• destroy symbols of government control or
demonstrate control over an area by the antigovernment
element;
• seize school or university buildings for use as
barracks, bases or firing positions, or attack
them because they are being used for these
purposes by opposing forces;
• block the education of girls;
• block education that is perceived to impose
alien religious or cultural values;
• react against curricula that are perceived to
meet the preferences of the elite or the majority
group, or that portray certain identity groups in
an inferior or hostile way;
• prevent schools from teaching a language,
religion, culture or history alien to the particular
identity group;
• restrict teacher trade union activity and
academic freedom;
• threaten a particular ethnic group;
• abduct children for use as combatants, sex slaves
or logistical support for military operations; or
• raise money by extortion or ransom.
The reported motives vary according to each context,
but also may vary within each situation and there may
be multiple motives for any single attack. For instance,
in southern Thailand, the motive of ethnic Malay
Muslim insurgent groups in attacking schools may
stem from their perception that schools are being or
have been used as a means to impose Buddhism, Thai
language and Thai versions of history on ethnic Malay
Muslims, but it may also be a means of challenging
government control of the area. 60
Depending on the context, attacks may be carried out
by any number of the following groups: armed forces
(including international armed forces), police forces,
intelligence services, paramilitaries and militias
acting on behalf of the state, and armed non-state
groups including rebel forces and any other armed
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