Only Palestine, Ukraine and DR Congo surpass the country, according to figures released after the Peace Agreement.
Between January 2017 and September 2025, the Colombia’s educational system received 913 attacks by actorsarmedaccording to the Investigation and Accusation Unit (UIA) of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP).
The figure places the country as the fourth most dangerous on the planet for education, only behind Palestine, Ukraine and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, three countries immersed in international conflicts. And it is the first in the Western Hemisphere. Palestine recorded 1,055 attacks on its education between 2022 and 2023. Ukraine had 745; the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 448, and Colombia, 363. In the same biennium the ranking continues with Burkina Faso, Myanmar, India, Afghanistan and Ethiopia.
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The most critical year for Colombia was 2022, with 243 attacks, one every two days, an average that is maintained this year, when 125 were documented between January and September. In 2021, 2023 and 2024, with 120, 135 and 136 attacks, there was one every three days.
“The two years following the subscription of the Peace Agreement, attacks on education were substantially reduced compared to what occurred before.
An increase began in 2019, and in 2022 we had a peak,” explained Giovanni Álvarez, director of the UIA. Álvarez indicated, in dialogue with La FM, that the definition of attacks on education includes damage to physical infrastructure, threats to teachers, use of schools as military bases or forced unschooling, among other crimes.
The report ‘Attacks on education in Colombia (2017-2025, global consensus for a country that educates in peace’ portrays the data. The UIA developed it with the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack, Education Above All and Save the Children. According to the document, the 73% of the more than nine hundred attacks in eight years has been addressed directly to students. Teachers and administrative staff. In total, the attacks caused 18,821 direct victims.
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One in four municipalities has been affected by attacks on education. Cauca, Norte de Santander and Antioquía account for more than a third of the cases of 2025, mainly in Catatumbo, Bajo Cauca Antioquia and the south of Córdoba. The most frequent attacks are death threats, with 38%. And since the signing of the Peace Agreement, an attack against teachers has been recorded every nine days.
The main forms of aggression are death threats and homicides. “Seeing ourselves faced with a situation of this nature implies challenges for Colombian society,” that it needs to “bring to mind what we are experiencing” to “give young people an opportunity to have a more promising future,” said Álvarez.
Source: Integrated Information System
