Today, I write with a very heavy heart. News that more than 160 young girls and their teachers were killed in an attack on a primary girls’ school in Iran is not just another tragic headline. It is a devastating reminder of the true cost of war. Behind every number is a child, a dream and a future the world will now never see.
Most of these girls were between seven and nine years old — an age when children are still learning to write their names, discovering the joy of books and dreaming about what they might become one day. A classroom should have been a place of safety, curiosity and laughter. Instead, it became a place of unimaginable loss.
War is often discussed in terms of strategy, alliances, power and geopolitics. Yet the human cost rarely receives the attention it deserves. War does not only destroy buildings and infrastructure — it destroys possibilities. It steals the lives of children who could have grown into teachers, scientists, doctors, leaders and mothers of tomorrow. Among those girls could have been someone who discovered a cure for a disease, someone who educated thousands of other girls or someone who transformed her community. Instead, their stories ended before they had even truly begun.
As someone who has dedicated much of my life to advocating for girls’ education, this tragedy feels deeply personal. Around the world, millions of girls already struggle against barriers just to enter a classroom — poverty, discrimination, early marriage, insecurity and social pressure. Education is often their greatest hope for a better life. And yet, in moments like this, even that hope is taken away.
A school must always be a sanctuary — a place where children are protected from the violence and failures of adults. When schools become targets, we must ask ourselves a painful question: what kind of world are we building for the next generation?
No political objective, military ambition or ideological conflict can justify the death of innocent children. When a bomb falls on a school, it does not only kill students — it wounds humanity itself. The loss of these girls is not just Iran’s tragedy. It is a tragedy for all of us. If we truly believe in peace and human progress, the protection of children and schools must become a universal and non-negotiable priority.
Fajer Rabia Pasha
Islamabad
