At 1st International Day to Protect Education, stakeholders advocate schools protection

Yesterday, the global community came together to mark the first International Day to Protect Education from Attack with the theme ‘Protect Education, Save a Generation’.

Experts said the day couldn’t have come at a better time than now that the world is confronted with an unprecedented global health crisis.

Attack on education is defined as any threatened or actual use of force against students, teachers, academics, education support and education officials, education buildings, resources, or facilities.

Attacks on education kill and injure, lead to student dropouts, loss of teachers, and extended school and university closures. They diminish the quality of education and have devastating, longterm consequences for society, the experts said.

Education is said to be under attack globally and the number of attacks is only rising, thus the need to remind the global community that education is an essential driver of human development and the solution.

While experts across the globe said they must stand in unity to ensure that they end attacks on education to protect and secure undisrupted, equitable, and quality learning, they further stated that a child’s right to education cannot be safeguarded in conflict zones without education itself being protected.

The UN said the day draws attention to the plight of more than 75 million 3-to18-year-olds living in 35 crisis-affected countries and to their urgent need of educational support.

The United Nations in Nigeria, in a statement, said safeguarding education from attack is urgently needed to restore confidence in schools as places of protection for children and teachers. This is particularly pressing in light of the COVID-19, which affected 46 million primary and secondary learners across Nigeria due to pandemic-related school closures.

The UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, Mr Edward Kallon said: “As state governments plan to reopen schools after prolonged closures, building a resilient education system to withstand future shocks should be included in pandemic response plans.”

He noted that prioritising safety in schools for educators and learners is an indication of government’s commitment to protecting investments in the education sector and a validation of Nigeria’s endorsement of the Safe Schools Declaration.

The report said in the 37 countries profiled, at least 10 attacks on education occurred over the last five years.

It noted that conflict has severely impinged on the right to education in Nigeria, saying, from 2009 to December 2018, 611 teachers were killed, 910 schools damaged or destroyed and more than 1,500 schools forced to close due to Boko Haram-related violence, interrupting the schooling of more than 900,000 children.

The report stated that Boko Haram openly targeted students based on gender, distinctly impacting the education of girls and women.

Also on December 24, 2018, Boko Haram allegedly burnt two schools in Kukareta and Ngaurawa villages, Yobe State, the GCPEA report said

At a webinar organised by Nigeria Education in Emergencies Working Group to mark the day with the theme, ‘Strengthening Communities and Schools to Protect Education from Attack in Nigeria’, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Arch Sonny Echono, said Nigeria was one of the first 37 countries to endorse the Safe Schools Declaration in May 2015, which signalled their intention to protect education from attack.

He said before the onset of COVID-19, Nigeria had 10.1 million children out of school and one of the contributory factors was the Boko Haram insurgency in northeastern Nigeria where learners, teachers and education personnel have been killed, abducted and maimed.

“In addition, education facilities have either been destroyed or damaged. All of which have affected school enrollment, lowered rates of transition to higher education, and poorer educational outcomes,” he said.

He noted that the Humanitarian Response Plan 2020 approximated that one million children in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe have had their education disrupted and require emergency education.

Also speaking, the Executive Chairman of Yobe Civil Society Organisations, Alhaji Baba Shehu, said attacks on schools are multi-dimensional and that aside from the violence and killings, there are social attacks like abuses by teachers, which prevent students from going to school as they portrayed education in a bad light.

While noting that the location of schools is one of the issues affecting them as some are entry points for insurgency, he said natural disasters like flood also prevent children from attending school.

“When there is flood, people use schools as refugee camps without anyone regulating who should have access to the schools,” he said.

He said to protect education from attack, communities must be involved and there should be a grant to help them achieve that.

The Adamawa State Commissioner for Education, Mrs Wulbina Jackson, while addressing the issue of attack on schools, said they largely depended on vigilante groups because they provide quick warning and response to attacks on communities.

“They protect the schools. We have had such attacks several times and no school was vandalized because the vigilantes are ever ready to protect the communities,” she said.

Meanwhile, the Permanent Secretary said in view of the new context and insecurity in and around schools outside the North East, the Federal Ministry of Education has developed the draft National Policy on Safety, Security and Violence-Free Schools which is aimed at having a holistic school safety and security plan.

“The draft policy thus ensures that all learners and staff members, educational assets (buildings and equipment) as well as school communities are protected from human-induced and natural hazards.”

He also noted that the Nigerian government has appointed security personnel to physically strengthen some vulnerable schools in the North East.

“Communities can and do play a role in protecting education. Some of which have set up registered safety groups that keep watch when schools are in session and established an escort mechanism through which community members accompany learners to and from school.”