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EDUCATION UNDER ATTACK 2014School torchedby a sectarian mobeducation in Myanmar faced a new and violent threatfrom Buddhist nationalists in central and easternregions in 2013 as schools and students were attackedin outbursts of sectarian violence. In one incident inMarch 2013, a 200-strong mob of Buddhists marched ona Muslim school in Meiktila, according to media reports.The teachers heard that they were coming and took thestudents out into a patch of bush near the school tohide. When the mob reached the school they torched itand went looking for the students. When they foundthem, they clubbed them with staves and, in somecases, poured petrol on them and set them alight. Theydecapitated one student after they caught him hiding inthe undergrowth. In total, 32 students and four teacherswere killed. Seven Buddhists were later jailed inconnection with the school massacre.The study differs from previous publications of Educationunder Attack in 2007 and 2010: it covers a different length oftime; significantly more resources were employed toundertake the research; and it set out to provide extensivecoverage of a wider range of incidents. In particular, there is anadditional focus on military use of education buildings andfacilities and on attacks on higher education, compared to thetwo earlier studies. It is difficult, therefore, to draw conclusionsabout trends over time when comparing the data of this studywith those of previous studies.The research team gathered data for this study from a widerange of secondary sources – including United Nations (UN)monitoring and reporting, research by human rights groupsand media reports – with differing purposes and varying levelsand methods of verification. Additional data were gathered byinformation requests sent to UN agencies and internationaland local NGOs; phone interviews with in-country experts; andin some cases via further in-country research by experiencedhuman rights researchers and journalists. The findings fromthe different sources have been collated, summarized andcross-checked against each other for reliability and accuracy.The study was also extensively reviewed byexperts in human rights, international law,education-in-emergencies and researchmethodology. However, it has not beenpossible to verify every incident.The study gauges the scale and nature ofviolent attacks on education in the 30 profiledcountries, as well as military use of schools anduniversities. It also examines their impact oneducation and the responses that communitiesand governments, with support from nationaland international agencies, have taken toaddress the problem, drawing upon acumulative understanding of the impact ofattacks since the issue was first studiedglobally and examining good practices acrossthe world.11