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Heightened violence in West and Central Africa has forced nearly two million children out of school, according to the United Nations children’s agency.

In a new report detailing threats of violence against schools across the region and issues as a ‘Child Alert’, UNICEF said there has been an increase in “deliberate” attacks against students, teachers and schools in the regions, which has led to a tripling of school closures.

“Nearly two million children are out of school due to conflict, so it is not an easy number,” UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, Muzoon Almellehan, told journalists in Geneva. “It is important to highlight those challenges, to highlight the struggle of those people. They need us, they need our attention.”

The UN agency said that over the past two years, some 9,272 schools have been closed in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, Niger and Nigeria as a result of insecurity – three times the number at the end of 2017.

Speaking on the back of her visit to a camp for people displaced by violence in central Mali, Almellehan insisted in Geneva that for many people, herself included, education was vitally important in giving children hope for a better future.

“I had to flee my homeland in Syria in 2013 and I also had to live in refugee camps,” she explained. “It wasn’t easy for me and also I can feel like those children who can’t go to school, because education is something really, really important to me, myself.”

The West and Central African regions have been dogged my violence for years, mostly perpetrated by jihadist terror groups.

Displacements remain high in the regions as millions of people flee their homes in search of security.

UNICEF has urged governments, education authorities and communities to support alternative learning opportunities for the affected children in order to ensure they do not miss out on education, which is vital for their futures.

“Now more than ever, governments must reaffirm their commitment to education and protect spending on education for their youngest citizens,” the agency said. “Now is the time for renewed efforts to make sure the potential of a generation of young people is not wasted.”