About 65 per cent of schools surveyed were looted, occupied or damaged by bullets or shells, the agency said in a news release about the survey, which was carried out in August in 11 of the country’s 17 prefectures.

“A school is meant to be a safe space for teaching and learning, but in some areas there is nothing left,” said UNICEF Representative in CAR Souleymane Diabaté. “Without teachers, desks, textbooks – how can a child learn?”

Four out of five people said that fear of violence is the main reason students are reluctant to return to school. Almost half of the schools remain closed and students have lost an average of six months of schooling.

“Both the access and quality of primary education in the Central African Republic have severely deteriorated since the beginning of the crisis,” said Diabaté. “And if we do not act now, more children will lose the entire school year and are at risk of dropping out.”

UNICEF called on the CAR authorities to take concrete measures to support the permanent and safe return of all teachers and students to school.

Plagued by decades of instability and fighting, the CAR witnessed a resumption of violence last December when the Séléka rebel coalition launched a series of attacks. A peace agreement was reached in January, but the rebels again seized the capital, Bangui, in March, forcing President François Bozizé to flee.

There is now a transitional government, headed by Prime Minister Nicolas Tiangaye, entrusted with restoring law and order and paving the way for democratic elections. But armed clashes in the north-east have increased since the beginning of August, and the country is facing a dire humanitarian situation that affects the entire population of some 4.6 million.

UNICEF said almost 25,000 children affected by conflict are now in ‘catch-up classes’ to prepare for this year’s final exams, with an additional 40,000 children scheduled to re-start learning in the upcoming weeks.

Almost 20,000 students have received school supplies and schools have been received furniture which has already helped to re-open schools. UNICEF plans to support an additional 105,000 children to get back to their classrooms by the end of the year.

UNICEF’s 2013 emergency appeal of $11.5 million, issued before the crisis, has since tripled to $32 million. The agency has only received one third of the funding requested, and $21 million is urgently needed to provide education and emergency assistance to conflict-affected children and women in CAR.

The crisis that began last December has displaced more than 394,000 people within the country and sent another 64,000 people to neighbouring countries in search of refuge. Persistent insecurity, the absence of the rule of law and attacks against humanitarian personnel and assets continue to prevent life-saving assistance from reaching people in need, said Laerke.

However, UN humanitarian staff have been redeployed to five locations outside Bangui and mobile humanitarian teams are also on the ground and providing aid in Bossangoa, where there had been a recent flare-up in fighting between various armed groups.

Humanitarian partners have reached nearly 180,000 people with food assistance and nutrition programmes; 573,000 people have benefited from water and sanitation programmes; and more than 200,000 have received health support.

Androulla Vassiliou, Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, said: “European universities need to think global. They must act strategically to capitalise on Europe’s reputation for top quality higher education. They need to promote international mobility of students and staff, provide world-class innovative curricula, as well as excellence in teaching and research. While many European universities have good links inside the EU, many lack a clear strategy for strengthening ties with non-European partners. This urgently needs to change. The Commission will support Member States so that they can develop their international higher education networks. There is no one-size-fits-all model for this: countries need to play to their strengths.”

There are more than 19 million students in European Union universities and other higher education institutions. The Commission underlines that universities must also promote an international outlook among the 85% of students who are not mobile, so that they too acquire the international skills required in a globalised world. This means universities need to develop international curricula, promote language skills and expand digital learning.

Overall, the number of higher education students in the world is expected to quadruple, from around 100 million in 2000 to 400 million in 2030, with particularly strong growth in Asia and Latin America. Europe currently attracts around 45% of all international students, but its competitors are rapidly increasing their investment in higher education. The largest providers of internationally mobile students are China, India and South Korea.

The new Erasmus+ programme, to be launched in January 2014, will for the first time mainstream opportunities for students from beyond Europe’s borders to spend part of their degree studies at a European university, or vice versa. 135 000 student and staff exchanges between the EU and the rest of the world will be funded – 100 000 more than under the existing Erasmus Mundus programme, in addition to 3 million student and staff exchanges within the EU.

“As we extend our sympathy to the families of the victims, we would say in the strongest possible terms that there can be no justification for the deliberate targeting of children and those looking after them,” said UNICEF’s Regional Director for West and Central Africa, Manuel Fontaine.

According to media reports, Islamic militants belonging to the Boko Haram group attacked a boarding school in the north-eastern state of Yobe before dawn on Saturday, killing 29 students and one teacher.

Secondary schools in the state have reportedly now been closed until the start of the new academic term in September to allow state and federal Government officials, as well as community leaders, to work on ways to guarantee the safety of schools.

“UNICEF calls for those responsible to be brought to justice and for communities to demand that schools be considered as places of safety,” it stated in a news release.

The agency noted that, since 16 June, a total of 48 students and seven teachers have reportedly been killed in four attacks in the region.

Leila Zerrougui, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, voiced her deep concern at the recent spike in incidents affecting schools and children in the region and called on the Nigerian Government to investigate these “heinous” crimes and hold the perpetrators accountable.

She called on those responsible to refrain from any attacks directed at or in the vicinity of schools, and warned that the killing and maiming of children, as well as attacks on schools, teachers and school children are serious violations of international law.

- Only one in four 9-year-olds studies at a ‘highly digitally-equipped school’ – with recent equipment, fast broadband (10mbps plus) and high ‘connectivity’ (website, email for students and teachers, local area network, virtual learning environment).

- Only half of 16-year-olds are in such ‘highly digitally-equipped schools’.

- 20% of secondary students have never or almost never used a computer in their school lessons.

- Students’ frequency of ICT-based learning activities in the classroom increases when schools have specific formal policies to use ICTs.

- There are marked country differences. Scandinavian and Nordic countries have the best equipment (Sweden, Finland, Denmark); while students in Poland, Romania, Italy, Greece, Hungary and Slovakia are most likely to lack the right equipment.

- Laptops, tablets and netbooks are replacing desktop computers in many schools.

- Lack of equipment does not mean lack of interest: some countries with the highest use of computer equipment are the ones with the lowest scores on equipment provisions (e.g. Bulgaria, Slovakia, Cyprus and Hungary).

- It is essential for students to have access to ICTs at both home and school.

- Most teachers believe there is need for radical policy change.

- Teachers are generally confident and positive about the use of ICTs for learning. This confidence is key: skilled and confident teachers are more important than the latest equipment to delivering digital skills and knowledge.

- However, teacher training in ICTs is rarely compulsory and therefore most teachers devote spare time to private study of these skills.

- Teachers use computers to prepare lessons more often than they use them in lessons.

“Jordanian authorities should release the five students and take steps to protect them from further attack,” said Eric Goldstein, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.

Authorities should also investigate reported remarks, including by a well-known Salafi shaikh, advocating the students’ deaths and prosecute anyone whose language amounted to direct incitement to murder, he added.

Other students had alleged the five detainees had “desecrated a Quran” or engaged in “devil worship” but no evidence of criminal behavior has been presented to the detained students, relatives told Human Rights Watch.

The sister of one of the five students told Human Rights Watch that a group of about 200 other students violently attacked her sister and four male students on the university campus following a rumor that some students had ripped and burned a Quran manuscript while performing a “religious ritual” in a campus bathroom.

She said the attackers appeared to have targeted the five students because they frequently dress in black and are rock music devotees.

Campus officials and student activists managed to pull the five students to safety, but local authorities then detained them and later handed them over to the security services. All five deny any involvement in the alleged Quran desecration.

The al-Ra’i newspaper reported that the president of Al al-Bayt University told a parliamentary committee on March 17 that he had established a special committee to investigate the rumored desecration incident after students claimed that they had witnessed the five “throwing manuscripts of the Quran in the toilets.” The head of the investigative committee later told the Khabarni news website, however, that the committee had found no evidence implicating the five students in desecrating the Quran and that none of the statements against them had been based on first-hand evidence. He said that it might be difficult for the five students to return to the university due to safety concerns.

The alleged desecration of the Quran and the assault on the five students has provoked wide interest and controversy in Jordan. The day after the incident, the Ammon news website posted an interview with a well-known shaikh, who is seen as leader of the “Salafi-Jihadi current.” The website reported that the shaikh had said it is permissible for Muslims to kill the five students because they “have been marked as infidels,” adding, “We hope to see their punishment soon.” The shaikh has not denied this interview, which remains online.

The shaikh’s remarks appear to have led to other calls for the students to be killed in messages posted on the Facebook social networking site and news websites, prompting fears for their safety and doubts about whether they will be able to complete their university studies in Jordan.

“Rather than locking up these five students without charge and compounding the harm done to them, the authorities should be bringing to justice those who violently assaulted them,” Goldstein said. “They should also investigate reported statements that appear to call for the students’ deaths and prosecute their authors if they amount to direct incitement to murder.”

Some universities have banned women from certain areas of study. Members of some religious minorities and student activists have been specifically targeted, with many being banned from further study or summoned to serve prison sentences for earlier offences – in many cases merely because they peacefully exercised their right to freedom of expression, association or assembly.

Iran’s academic year begins on 23 September, and the recent rise in harassment dates back to May 2012, although student activists have faced persecution for many years, according to Amnesty International. 

“The Iranian authorities must end their cycle of repression against university students, which has contributed to an environment of fear as the new academic year approaches,” said Ann Harrison, Deputy Middle East and North Africa Programme Director at Amnesty International.

“By banning students from their studies on the basis of their gender, beliefs or peaceful activism, the Iranian authorities are violating their obligations under international law.”

University disciplinary committees commonly use a discriminatory practice of allocating “stars” – indications on a student’s personal file – where they have been found to take part in an activity “not permitted under university rules” which can include peaceful political or human rights activities. 

A student handed three “stars” typically faces an outright ban on further education.

Since August, Amnesty International has documented several cases of students who have been called to serve prison sentences or banned from pursuing further higher education by the Iranian authorities. 

Soroush Sabet began serving a two-year prison sentence on 2 September 2012 in connection with his participation in student demonstrations in 2007. 

Another student, Leva Khanjani, a member of the persecuted Baha’i religious minority, has been banned from pursuing higher education on account of her faith. On 25 August 2012 she began serving a two-year prison sentence imposed for her alleged peaceful role in demonstrations against the Iranian authorities in late December 2009.

Amnesty International said it fears that many other students remain at risk of similar harassment, and calls on the Iranian authorities and university administrations to end such openly discriminatory practices.

“The Iranian authorities must recognize that students – like all in Iran – have the right to peacefully express their opinions, together or in association, and to peacefully demonstrate, including to express their criticism of the government,” said Harrison.

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All student prisoners of conscience in Iran – such as Behareh Hedayat, Majid Tavakkoli and Zia Nabavi – should be released immediately and unconditionally said Amnesty International.