installations on the outskirts of cities (e.g., Al Jazeera 2020); and in other cities, there were intermittent air strikes and terrorist attacks (e.g., Amnesty International 2019). Furthermore, some regions were being captured by different parties to the conflict (e.g., Al Jazeera 2019), which interrupted or completely changed the governance of regions and further affected the safety of children attending school and the ability of schools to remain open.

Related to the increased violence, a number of school buildings have been damaged in the country that make it more difficult for children to attend school. In the most recent Damage and Needs Assessment performed by the World Bank in the 16 largest cities in the country, 32 percent of schools have been partially damaged, and 3 percent of schools have been destroyed as of 2020 (World Bank 2020a). In response to schools not being operational, some school officials have reported either setting up temporary structures for schools nearby, or sending children to other nearby schools (e.g., World Bank 2020b). Given the added difficulty in attending school in these circumstances, it is possible that violence can have a persistent effect in some regions.

However, there were a variety of other ways the conflict affected access to education in the entire country and not just in regions affected by the most severe violence. First, beginning in 2016, public sector salaries were completely halted in DFA-held territory in the north of the country (e.g., World Bank 2017b). Given the lack of any or consistent payment for teachers in the north, and given the lack of adequate payment for the teachers who were receiving a salary in the rest of the country, there was an increase in teacher absenteeism in the country (e.g., OCHA 2019a). There were reports of volunteer teachers making up the teacher deficit in some regions, but not all needs could be covered in this way and many claimed that the quality of the volunteer teachers was poor (e.g., World Bank 2020b).

Second, in addition to the lack of teachers, the conflict exacerbated the poor condition of schools and problems with the limited amount of teaching materials (e.g., OCHA 2019a). These were already problems prior to the conflict (e.g., World Bank 2017b), but physical damage to schools since the start of the conflict and a near complete freeze on the ability to repair schools and teaching materials significantly worsened these problems (e.g., World Bank 2020b; etc.). There were reports of school construction in a limited number of districts, and some grades in a portion of IRG-held territory received textbooks, but these instances were limited and did not cover the entire country (e.g., OCHA 2019b).

And third, there was a large shock to household incomes in the country. Dramatic increases in underemployment and significant inflation in the price of key commodities likely had significantly limited the ability of households to purchase items necessary for children to go to school (e.g., OCHA 2019a). Additionally, there were reports that older children were taken out of school to help financially support households (e.g., World Bank 2020b). Along with this lack of income, there were significant deprivations in food security and access to health care, which both limited the ability of children to attend school and to acquire a quality education if they did attend (e.g., OCHA 2019a).

Given all these factors that limited the ability of children to attend school or the ability 6