This story was originally posted by the UN News Centre. The original post can be found here.

© IRIN/Sumaira Jajja
School children attending class at Noor Model School in Shamshatoo, Pakistan.

1 April 2013 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today condemned the recent spate of fatal attacks on teachers in Pakistan, while voicing great concern about the growing trend of violence against educators around the world.

“Violence against teachers undermines confidence in education systems, traumatizes students, and discourages parents from sending children to school,” said a statement issued by Mr. Ban’s spokesperson.

“Attacks on women teachers are particularly heinous because they disproportionately affect the girl students for whom they serve as role models,” it added.

Mr. Ban’s condemnation comes on the heels of the killing of Shahnaz Nazli, a 41-year-old teacher murdered by unknown gunmen on a motorbike in the town of Shahkas, in the Khyber Agency of Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas. According to media reports, no group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack.

Ms. Nazli’s death follows the killing of five teachers in January near the town of Swabi in the volatile Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, located in the north of the country near the Afghan border.

In his statement, Mr. Ban called for schools to be respected as “safe and secure learning spaces” and urged local and national authorities the world over “to redouble their efforts to provide security in this area” and ensure that perpetrators of violence against teachers are brought to justice.

© UNICEF/NYHQ2008-1016/Christine Nesbitt
Kinkole Primary school near Kinshasa, DRC.

By Taleen Vartan

NEW YORK, USA, 31 January 2012 – In 2011, UNICEF commissioned research to investigate the role of education in peacebuilding in post-conflict contexts. The resulting report, entitled The Role of Education in Peacebuilding: A synthesis report of findings from Lebanon, Nepal and Sierra Leone, is part of a knowledge generation study within the Back on Track programme on Education in Emergencies and Post-Crisis Transition. Back on Track is a five-year partnership between UNICEF, the Government of the Netherlands and the European Commission.

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News note

NEW YORK, 24 January 2012 – The State of Kuwait has contributed $250,000 to UNICEF in Turkey to support UNICEF’s humanitarian response to victims of the Van earthquake. The support was announced by His Excellency Mansour Ayyad Al-Otaibi, Permanent Representative of Kuwait to the United Nations.

On 23 October 2011, an earthquake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale hit the province of Van in eastern Turkey. Some 604 people were killed and over 4,000 injured as dozens of buildings, including multi-story apartment blocks and schoolteachers’ lodgings, collapsed or were seriously damaged.

© UNICEF Philippines/2012/Maitem
Students at Consolacion Elementary School in Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines, use UNICEF-provided school packs to resume their studies.

By Marge Francia

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines, 25 January 2012 – In City Central School, in Cagayan de Oro City, two teachers recently held their first day of classes since the devastating floods that swept through their community – even as their own futures looks uncertain.

Vivian Benedictos and Marilou Gambuta, co-teachers and best friends, share a first-grade classroom at the school. It is a space they not only teach in, but now also live in.

© UNICEF Zimbabwe/2011/Chikerema
UNICEF trucks deliver secondary school textbooks to the UNICEF Zimbabwe Distribution Centre in Harare.

HARARE, Zimbabwe, 18 November 2011 –Following the successful distribution of 15 million textbooks countrywide, the Inclusive Government of Zimbabwe, UNICEF and the international donor community, will distribute an additional seven million textbooks to all 2,345 secondary schools while simultaneously launching the second phase of the Education Transition Fund.

The Education Transition Fund is an innovative multi-donor funding mechanism launched in 2010 by the Ministry of Education, Sports, Arts and Culture, in partnership with UNICEF and the international donor community, to bridge the funding gap in the education sector during the transition period, from emergency to recovery.

© Anders Thormann/2011
Anthony Lake speaks at GPE Pledging Conference in Copenhagen.

By Joan Howe

Copenhagen, 9 November 2011 – Leading donors at the first-ever Global Partnership for Education (GPE) Pledging Conference promised an initial US$1.5 billion over the next three years to put millions more children in school.

The multi-partner global partnership met on 7-8 November in Copenhagen, Denmark, where donors also pledged to increase bilateral funding to support education investment and achieve concrete results in access and quality of education. The pooled education fund aims to secure predictable funding to put 25 million more children in school over the next three years. Developing countries pledged to increase domestic funding for education by more than US$2 billion.