Making the school environment safe
One suicide bomber was the only fatality when the device went off at the entrance of the library of the Federal College of Education, Kontagora, Niger State, on November 12; one student was injured.In the Yobe attack, a young man laden with explosive gear beat school security to join students and teachers at the morning […]
One suicide bomber was the only fatality when the device went off at the entrance of the library of the Federal College of Education, Kontagora, Niger State, on November 12; one student was injured.
In the Yobe attack, a young man laden with explosive gear beat school security to join students and teachers at the morning assembly, and exploded the device concealed on his person. Two months earlier, 17 people including an infant, a lecturer and students, died when suicide bombers and gunmen struck at the Federal College of Education (FCE) in Kano.
Although no groups have claimed responsibility, the attacks are believed to have been masterminded by Boko Haram insurgents, who now occupy large swaths of the North-East. Schools are shut in many parts of the region where the insurgency is most active. More than 20,000 children are not able to attend school due to attacks by the insurgents; some are known to have given up on returning to studies.
The abduction in mid-April of over 200 students of the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, galvanised an outraged world into action against the menace. The assaults on schools continue nevertheless, with federal government officials often blamed for not showing enough commitment to tackle the insurgency. The situation has worsened the educational fortunes of the North-East. A recent survey indicated that the North generally still lagged behind in education, but revealing a far more dismal picture in the North-East. The survey concluded that with the insurgency unchecked, it could deal a fatal blow to education system of the region. This downturn should worry the relevant authorities to urgently rise to this serious challenge. That is why the Safe School Initiative recently launched by the Federal Government in collaboration with the international community as part of activities of the World Economic Forum for Africa (WEFA) must go beyond sloganeering and take real and sustainable measures to rescue the situation.
President Goodluck Jonathan and former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced an initial $10 million (N1.6 billion) each to match investments by the government to promote schools as safe places for teaching and learning. The initiative was “in response to the growing number of attacks on the right to education, including the kidnapping of more than 250 girls.”
The initiative targets 500 schools in a pilot programme in northern states, and is expected to commence in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states. It will focus on school and community interventions, with special measures for the most at-risk and vulnerable children. It will specifically build community security groups to promote safe zones for education, consisting of teachers, parents, police, community leaders and youths.
This positive start cannot of course guarantee security from opportunistic forays by armed persons determined to cause mayhem; but it will advance that goal if the authorities go a step further by re-introducing security consciousness in school curriculum to promote safe school environment. Government at all levels must act decisively to plug loopholes that hoodlums exploit to attack schools.
Students and pupils must also be aware of the need to be conscious of their personal safety. As a temporary measure, personnel of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and other paramilitary bodies could be deployed to keep watch at schools; such presence could provide a measure of deterrent effect.
The authorities must also go beyond taking the default position of blaming one group or the other for almost all the criminal acts without first examining all the evidence, including forensic and those gathered through thorough intelligence work, to reach a definitive conclusion.