Wars and military conflicts impair the functioning of education systems and often lead to extensive damage to the educational infrastructure. Millions of children are prevented from attending school as a consequence of violent conflicts. The international development goal of ensuring basic education for all by the year 2015 is threatened with failure unless it is possible to stem such destructive societal conflicts.

The impacts of violent conflicts are diverse:

• decrease in enrolment and school attendance rates,
• physical dangers for teaching staff and students,
• schools as a place of recruitment for child soldiers,
• damage to and destruction of educational infrastructure,
• increasing level of violence in schools,
• increase in gender-specific violence and sexual abuse,
• impairment of learning ability, learning motivation and mental health of students,
• reduction in education efficiency and education quality,
• downturn in public and private education financing,
• instrumentalisation of educational facilities for the interests of the conflict parties,
• impact on social distribution of education participation and education opportunities.

However, education also has destructive potential and may play a role in exacerbating and escalating social conflicts if the education system

• reproduces socio-economic disparities,
• does not tolerate differences and is guilty of social exclusion,
• ignores existing ethnic, religious and cultural diversity.

In the long term, the promotion of education is vital for peace building and crisis prevention. Education contributes to a peaceful co-existence and social cohesion. 

In emercency situations, long-term crisis and in reconstruction for crisis prevention, education promotion is a humanitarian task, because

• education alleviates the psychosocial stress that war and violence cause and provides a degree of normality and stability in the everyday lives of children and adults,
• education has an important role in protecting individuals against exploitation and abuse.

In post-war settings, investment in education has a positive impact on social reform and transformation processes. There is a significant correlation between higher rates of school enrolment and a lower risk of recurrence of civil war.