As it happens6:25More school closures are undermining education in Nigeria, says Amnesty International
Sending children to school has become too risky for many families in Nigeria.
In the last ten years, it has become almost routine for Nigerian school children to be bullied in their classrooms and held by armed actors.
The government has repeatedly vowed to improve school security to prevent these kidnappings. But in the background More than 300 children were taken from a Catholic school in Niger State Last month, Amnesty International said parents had given up all hope that things would get better.
“They tell us that they are afraid, they are afraid, and they are not comfortable having their children in schools,” said Isa Sanusi, As it happens host nil köksal.
“Many parents may keep their children at home, remember them away from school because they believe that they will be keeping them safe and away from the cold hands of kidnappers.”
Since last month’s kidnapping, Amnesty says 20,468 schools in seven states in Nigeria have closed their doors permanently.
The agency does not have a tally of how many children have been pulled out of school in the past month. But given that some rural schools pack as many as 100 students into one classroom, Sanusi says the number could be “
Even before this latest attack, the United Nations called Nigeria one of the highest numbers of unaccompanied minors in the world at 20 million, partly because parents fear abduction.
100 children were reunited with their families this week
On Monday, the Nigerian Government secured the release of 100 students kidnapped from St. Mary Catholic in the village of Papiri on November 21.
The children arrived in armored trucks at the government house in Niger State capital Minna before being reunited with their families.
The Christian Association of Nigeria says more than 300 students and 12 staff were taken from St Mary’s, while 50 managed to escape their captors.
More than 100 victims were excluded, although the exact number remains unclear.
“My direction to our security forces remains that all students and other Nigerians across the country should be rescued and brought home safely,” President Bola Tinubu said. “We must be accountable to all the victims.”
The attack on St. Mary was far from the incident that occurred. The school’s abductions last ten years when BOKO Haram Miliphi kidnapped 276 girls from the eastern town of Chibok in 2014.
In early November, gunmen attacked a government-run girls’ school in Kebbi State, Killing the principals and taking 25 students. All but one of the girls are still missing.
Activists from the Restoring Our Girls movement, which emerged after the Chibok kidnapping, estimated that 1,800 Nigerian children had been kidnapped in the intervening years.
The founder of the organization, bukky Shonibare, says these tumors are part of a systematic failure to stand up for more than 11 years.
“Kidnapping of school children has never been more important in the country of Nigeria,” Shonibare was told As it happens last month. “Until it’s a national priority, it’s not going to be funded by real investment, real actions, you know, and real accountability.”
The abduction of 300 students from a school in Northern Nigeria is the latest and worst in a series of kidnappings in the country that have led to a government shutdown.
The Nigerian government did not reveal how they got the 100 st children.
However, Sanusi, says Nigerians do not believe it. He says that gangs and military groups control schools because it is a profitable business.
“They will not stop, because they get what they want,” he said.
Boys go to work, girls get married
Sanusi says that the discussion has discussed with the children who survived these things. They live in fear, he said, and he expressed a desire to continue their studies.
“It makes them realize that there is a risk associated with seeking education, there is a risk associated with going to school,” she said.
Thirteen-year-old Stephen Samuel, one of the children of St.
“Will we be able to go to school again? Which school will we go to?” he asked. “I think maybe school is over.”
Instead, Sanusi says children are forced to take on the roles of adults.
“For boys, they are mostly sent to go and work hard to support the family,” she said. “Of the girls, they are mostly married under it and sent to live with their new husbands in the towns and cities where it is safe and away from the hands of the kidnappers.”
The attacks, he says, are mostly aimed at rural areas of Nigeria, where people are already struggling to make ends meet.
The United Nations World Food Program estimates that 35 million people will go hungry in Nigeria by 2026, with rural communities facing an economic crisis.
“So for some parents who are struggling to survive, [pulling their kids from school] Economic relief is coming for them,” said Sanusi.
But he says it’s a vicious cycle that encourages poverty.
He said: “An entire generation of children could end up missing out on education altogether,” he said. “That this is a very important issue for the future of children, and the country itself.”
