OMEP Australia joins OMEP UK in expressing deep sorrow and concern for the children, families, and educators affected by the bombing of a school in Iran. Yet we also recognise that this tragedy is not an isolated event — it is the latest in an unrelenting pattern of conflict, from the Middle East to Ukraine and many other regions, that is stripping children of their right to education and a peaceful childhood across the globe.
Around the world, children are paying the highest price for wars they did not choose. In many countries across the Arab world, children have lost access to physical classrooms entirely, with education shifted online — a fragile substitute that cannot replace the safety, relationships, and richness of in‑person learning, particularly for our youngest children. In other conflict‑affected contexts, schools are damaged or destroyed, communities are displaced, and education is disrupted for months or years at a time.
Schools and early childhood settings are not targets. They are sanctuaries. Every attack on a learning environment is an attack on a child’s future.
As an organisation committed to the rights, education, and care of young children, OMEP Australia:
- Condemns all violence against children, educators, and educational settings in every region of the world
- Recognises that emergency responses such as online learning, while sometimes necessary, cannot substitute the holistic development that safe, in‑person early childhood education provides
- Stands in solidarity with children, families, and educators living and working under the threat of conflict, displacement, and insecurity
- Calls on governments, international bodies, and community leaders to treat children’s safety and education as non‑negotiable priorities in all peace, humanitarian, and reconstruction efforts
Children everywhere deserve to learn, play, and grow in safety. The world must do better.
