These beautifully heartrending photographs show how war disrupts schools, childhoods and education long after the fighting stops

Hijacked Education is a World Press Photo-winning project by Diego Ibarra Sánchez that reveals the devastating long-term effects of war on schools, childhoods, and education. For over a decade, Sánchez has captured poignant images of how conflict disrupts learning environments and the lives of children around the world. The project, which won the 2026 World Press Photo regional award for Long-Term Projects in West, Central, and South Asia, focuses on the impact of conflict, extremism, intolerance, and displacement on education.

Sánchez's work spans multiple countries, including Pakistan, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Colombia, Ukraine, Afghanistan, and Nagorno-Karabakh. His photographs document the destruction of schools, displacement of teachers, and the loss of textbooks, emphasizing that the damage extends far beyond the battlefield. One striking image shows a classroom reduced to rubble, while another captures children continuing their education despite the absence of essential infrastructure.

The images in Hijacked Education highlight the resilience and dreams of children, such as Yousef, a 12-year-old who aspires to become a police officer despite his school being heavily damaged during the battle for Mosul. Similarly, Daria Kechenovska, a 16-year-old Ukrainian student, expresses her desire to become a soldier to defend her country, learning inside a school that was destroyed by a missile strike.

UNESCO reports that 1,680 attacks on schools were verified worldwide in 2025, marking a 33% increase from the previous year. The organization estimates that 258 million children and adolescents have had their education disrupted by crises, with 93 million completely out of school. Sánchez's photographs bring human faces and physical locations to these statistics, underscoring the profound and lasting impact of war on the futures of millions of children.