BBC Amharic – War in Amhara Region: “I struggled so my children wouldn’t remain uneducated like me, now there is no option”
- AAA-admin
- 13 hours ago
- 5 min read
Disclaimer: This is an English translation of an Amharic article taken from BBC Amharic and is intended solely for information purposes.
BBC Amharic – War in Amhara Region: “I struggled so my children wouldn’t remain uneducated like me, now there is no option”
October 30, 2025 (Tikimit 20, 2018 EC)
Her dream was to become a doctor. For this reason, she pursued her education. Iniyat* was pursuing her secondary schooling by traveling on foot for two hours from her home in a small village in East Gojjam Zone.
This did not dissuade her, and under the circumstances she made it to eighth grade. But now it has been three years since she has been stuck at home.
In hopes that the situation would improve she awaited the day she could return to school but the situation in fact worsened.
For the reason of prioritizing her schooling she delayed marriage and despite being underage now she hopes for it. “If I can’t go to school what can I do? It has all become hopeless” she says.
This is not her fate alone. It has been three years since her younger siblings set foot in a school even though there is one in their area.
They have left behind their binders and pens to herd cattle. Sudden outbreaks of gunfire and fighting also terrorize the children. They fear anything that flies above them may drop something on them.
A nearby school was reopened by state authorities and teachers were forced to return to teaching but parents have not risked sending their children back to school.
According to Iniyat soldiers are stationed next to the schools. “Children are supposed to learn next to where the soldiers are stationed. We can’t learn in the city because there is insecurity there too. We hear people are abducted so we have been afraid.”
Mother of four including of Iniyat, Anchinalu* says, “how can children go to school where soldiers are stationed with guns without being disturbed?” Surprise outbreaks of fighting have also been worrying.
She also recalls an encounter she previously had. “We sent our children to school, then fighting broke out all of a sudden. The children ran to their mothers, and the mothers ran towards their children. All of us almost died on the road,” she said. Since then she has been unable to send her children to school she added.
One teacher who asked that their name be withheld for their security said in Amhara Region and particularly in areas where fighting has intensified it has been three years since schooling has been disrupted.
For this reason, children and youth have been exposed to child labor, child marriage and sexual exploitation. According to the teacher students particularly in secondary school have become “wives” to soldiers and militants and that there are some who engage in sex work in the city. They added that males have been forced to join militant groups and state security forces in the region.
The war which broke out after the Federal Government moved to disarm the special forces and militants in the region in 2015 EC has intensified in various areas.
Beyond the loss of life and property, the war has caused psychological, economic and political crises. It has especially caused a crisis in the education sector, with education inaccessible to millions of students according to regional state authorities.
According to an update released by the regional education bureau in September, 2025 (Meskerem, 2018 EC) over 7.4 million students were projected to register however only 3.48 million students are currently enrolled.
The bureau has repeatedly called on parents to send their children to school however this push has not been successful. The bureau further emphasized that students not returning to school has caused various social problems.
According to a report released by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) last year over 9 million children were out of school caused by numerous factors including displacement, violence and conflict.
According to the report more than nine thousand schools or 20% of the country’s schools have been destroyed due to conflict and natural disasters.
It further indicated that the situation has been particularly severe in conflict affected areas, where children are vulnerable to child labor, child marriage and exploitation.
“We put them through school but without seeing the outcome we are losing hope”
Anchinalu did not receive an education. She has never been to a school. She was married off young and became a mother. Now she is a mother of four children.
Two of the children were in kindergarten, one is in third grade, and one had reached ninth grade.
“I remained illiterate because I was never educated. I struggled so they (the children) would receive an education. Now they are stuck like this. What solution is there?” she says explaining her loss of hope.
She had hope for her children. “I did everything I could so my children would be educated, get jobs, and attain knowledge,” she said.
Her eldest child Iniyat would say, “your struggles are enough. I will finish my education and get a job. Otherwise, I will make a living doing business” as she rejected marriage proposals to focus on her schooling.
Now however it appears the children and their parents have begun losing hope. “Isn’t it difficult to see them stop before they could complete their schooling? What should we do?” asked Anchinalu.
She no longer has a response for her child’s questions. As years pass her hope has declined. “After going to school for this long what can I do, how what can I do without work to do?” is Iniyat’s constant question.
Child marriage, child labor and sex work...
Anchinalu is greatly concerned that her children are stuck at home. Though she intended to send them to a city with relative peace, this option has not offered assurance either. She hears that cities are insecure and experience fighting as well. Beyond this, she has feared her children being abducted for ransom. “We believe it is better for them to stay with us, but it is not peaceful here either,” says Anchinalu.
She says fighting breaks out suddenly which has prevented labor work, herding cattle and other day to day activities.
Before all the children in this area would go to school so it was the parents which would look after the cattle says Anchinalu, but now it is the children who do this work she says. According to Iniyat it is difficult to fulfil this responsibility. “The drones have forced us to keep our doors closed and stay in place,” she says.
According to the teacher who has been concerned by disruption of education in the region, there are schools being used as encampments by combatants especially in rural areas.
Though BBC has been unable to independently verify this, neither the state or the militants which operate in the region have made any comment on this matter. However both sides have accused one another of using public facilities as military outposts and of carrying out attacks on such facilities.
Last year the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission reported that more than 5,500 schools have become non-operational.
According to the commission the majority of these schools are located in Amhara Region, with the schools sustaining damages caused by natural and man-made crises in addition to being repurposed by combatants as military camps.
At the time, the commission’s commissioner on women, children, elderly persons and disabled rights, Rigib Gebrehawariyat, explained to BBC the impact of students being out of school for years.
“There are students who have been out of school for three or four years. It is like robbing these years from their lives. They won’t get these years back. What is happening to this generation is not right. We are losing something big as a country too.”
The teacher which BBC spoke to expressed fears that students being out of school would lead to worsening economic, social and political crises.
“Young girls are facing child marriage, some are engaging in sex work in the city, children are facing exploitation through child labor” they said sharing, their observations.
Iniyat and Anchinalu also confirmed this account. In their neighborhood a large number of girls have been forced into marriage and children have been forced into herding cattle, they said.
Iniyat and her peers look onward to realize their dream of the war coming to an end so they can return to school.
*Names have been changed for security reasons
