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DAKAR (AlertNet) - Some 800,000 children in Ivory Coast have missed out on school since the outbreak of violence following last year's disputed presidential election. In the western regions of Moyen Cavally and 18 Montagnes, where fresh fighting erupted on Tuesday, some 180,000 children are losing out on their education and most teachers have been absent since November. "We know from experience that when children’s education is disrupted in a situation like this, they are less likely to go back to school once the crisis is over," said Guy Cave, Ivory Coast country director for Save the Children.

Nearly 45,000 of those who have fled their homes have sought safety in Liberia. But aid groups say the thousands of children who have crossed into Liberia cannot attend school there because of language and curriculum differences.   

Simmering political tensions among secondary and college students supporting different sides in the deadlock have led to fights. About 4,000 students have seen their books, schoolbags and other study materials destroyed by fellow students.

Thousands of Ivorian children have dropped out of school because of pillaging and destruction of school buildings, a majority of which are located in economic capital Abidjan.

Out of the 224 attacks on schools during the post-election crisis in Cote d’Ivoire early 2011, more than half occurred in Abidjan. Schools were not spared from the consequences of the struggles, and suffered pillaging and destruction from stray bullets, shelling and arson. In the hotspots of the crisis, some schools were even occupied by armed forces, equipment was damaged and classrooms were ransacked. The crisis caused many schools throughout the country to close for months.

The studies show that certain regions are still hardly hit by a strong dropout rate, particularly in the western portion of the country and in Abidjan, where the fighting reached peaks of violence. In those areas, considerable damage was inflicted by armed forces and pillaging, which greatly struck the schools and prevented children from resuming their education on the school year opening on 24 October. Thousands of children are today still missing from school months after the crisis.

This is a war zone. Families in the sprawling camp have lost everything – everything that is except a drive to get their kids an education. In the midst of the most abject poverty, parents have come together to build makeshift classrooms, hire a teacher, and buy a blackboard. Many of the kids work in the afternoon, selling charcoal to pay the $1 fee charged every term. “Being in school is fun – and people with an education can have a better life. I’ll be a doctor,” says David Ichange, aged 12.

If every girl in sub-Saharan Africa had a secondary education, it would cut under-five deaths by around 1.8 million. The reason: educated mothers are empowered to demand better health and nutrition provision.

The same holds for cutting poverty. If every child in a low income country got into school and left with basic reading skills, the growth effects would lift 171 million people out of poverty. That’s a 12% decline.

"When wars break out, international attention and media reporting invariably focus on the most immediate images of human suffering. Yet behind these images is a hidden crisis. Across many of the world's poorest countries, armed conflict is destroying not just school infrastructure, but the hopes and ambitions of generations of children."

According to the report's data, 21 developing countries spend more on arms than on primary schools. Meanwhile, only 2% of humanitarian aid goes towards education (with the vast majority of aid requests for education in conflict-affected states left unfulfilled).

The consequences are stark. In poor countries affected by conflict: 28 million children of primary school age are out of school (42% of the world's total) a child is twice as likely to die before their fifth birthday (compared with a child born in a poor but stable country) about 30% of the young people aged 15-24 are illiterate (compared with 7% in other poor countries)