States Adopt Unusual Methods To Secure Students
• Kebbi Engages Local Vigilantes • FCT PTAS Deploy Cutlasses, Bow, Arrows To Fortify Schools’ Security • Security Assigned To Schools Don’t Have Weapons To Defend Us, Students Lament • Benue Students Learn In Fear Due To Absence Of Conventional Security
Fromanthony Otaru( Abuja),
Bala Yahaya ( Minna), Michael Danjuma( Katsina), Ahmadu Baba Idris ( Birnin Kebbi), Joseph Wantu ( Makurdi) and Murtala Adewale ( Kano)
WORRIED by rising cases of banditry, attacks on institutions of learning and kidnapping of students and staff, many states, especially in the north, have resorted to various methods to safeguard the institutions and keep students in the classroom.
There have been several attacks on schools and abduction of staff and students by bandits, who made all sorts of demands for ransom before their release, with some killed in the process, in Katsina, Zamfara, Niger , Kaduna, Borno , Y obe, Adamawa and Kano, as well as Lagos and Ogun states, leading to closure of some boarding schools and discontinuation of learning by students.
Following persistent attacks on Shiroro and Munya Local Councils of Niger State by bandits, majority of residents of the two councils have fled into safety in Minna, the state capital, where over 3,000 of them have become Internally Displaced Persons ( IDPS) at the Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida Primary School. As a result, the education of their children has been on hold.
Attacks on educational institutions, particularly boarding secondary schools by bandits, which lead to the closure of some boarding schools in some local councils of the state, have created a vacuum in the educational pursuant of the children, according to parents and stakeholders.
Virtually all boarding secondary schools in Shiroro , Rafi and Muny a Councils were shut down as a result of bandit attacks, even as the state government has set up a committee comprising stakeholders, security agents, parents and community leaders, to come up with sug gestions that would assist it secure the institutions.
However, community leaders in the affected areas have advised government to relocate the students from trouble zones to safer places, especially schools at urban areas, urging it to empower local vigilantes with sophisticated weapons to enable them provide security to schools.
They stated that until adequate security arrangements were put in place, the schools, both boarding and day, would be unsafe for learning.
Suleiman Garba, a community leader in Gurmana ward of Shiroro Council, regretted that despite the efforts of the state government to secure the schools, some criminally minded individuals were denying their children access to education .
Habibu Ahmadu from Kuchi, Muny a Council, lamented that all the schools in their area ha ve been shut and parents and children rendered homeless and relocated to Internally Displaced Persons ( IDPS) camps, hoping that one day, the situation would be under control.
Shuaibu Garba, a parent, bemoaned the calamity that has befallen his children, who have been out of school for several months and were not expected back to school anytime soon, as the situation keeps deteriorating by the day.
Fatima Isah, a mother of six, complained that government at all levels have not shown seriousness in the fight against banditry, warning that if care is not taken, children’s education might be crippled for years. She expressed worry that if urgent steps were not taken to address the lingering security challenges bedeviling their communities, “the future of our children may be dashed. ” Principal of one of the secondary schools in Rafi Council, who craved anonymity, assured that government was on top of the situation, saying Governor Abubakar Sani Bello was not leaving any stone unturned to ensure peace in the state.
He revealed that government had put in place a committee to work out modalities of reviving schools, adding that the committee comprises stakeholders in the educational sector, the village and district heads and security agencies, including vigilante groups. He assured that very soon, bandit attacks in schools would be a thing of the past.
On their part, some students appealed to relevant authorities to fast track their return to school without further delay, as their counterparts in private schools were already ahead of them.
As part of efforts to curb the security threat to schools in the Federal Capital Territory ( FCT), parents, under the aegis of Parents’ Teachers Associations ( PTAS), have agreed to engage the services of private security firms to help beef up security around various school premises in the territory.
They have also started to equip the schools, especially private institutions, with cutlasses, bow and arrows to fortify their security capacity.
One of them, Mr. Egbuka Daniel, told The Guardian yesterday in Abuja that this has become necessary to assist government security operatives to protect the school environment and make it safer.
Daniel, who also lives in Bwari Area Council, said: “We have equally agreed with school authorities that children should no longer be released to persons other than their parents after closing hours. Students or pupils will no longer be allowed to come out from the school premises.”
A second- year student of the FCT College of Education in Zuba, Miss Riskatu Balogun, said the main worries about insecurity in the institution is the inability of government to properly provide sophisticated weapons for all officers attached to schools in the territory.
“Security patrol teams should also be put in place to enable emergency tracking of kidnappers, especially at early mornings and at nights,” she stressed.
On his part, a vice principal in Abaji Area Council, who craved anonymity, charged the Federal Government to wake up to its responsibility by putting an end to the menace, saying: “No matter what anybody thinks he can do, except the government at the centre takes bold steps to end kidnappings and Boko Haram menace, all will continue to appear as wastes.”
In the same token, the FCT administration’s education secretariat has assured the students that their safety in schools cannot be compromised, adding: “We are assuring the general public of the safety of our pupils and students in all schools in the FCT. There is no need for parents and pupils to panic, because our schools are safe from bandits and kidnappers.
“The assurance has become necessary following purported reports that FCT schools have been shut for fear of an impending cases of kidnappings, occasioned by the supposedly influx of bandits that have surrounded FCT neighbouring states.”
Director, Administration and Finance, Mallam Leramoh Abdulrazaq, said schools in the territor y, which just resumed thirdterm session last month, had been running smoothly with daily and intensive monitoring and inspection mechanism already in place by the various departments mandated with such responsibilities.
He said no security breach has been recorded in FCT , even as he debunked some media reports that they have been closed .
Leramoh stressed that in the face of the security challenges, the education secretariat has continued to strengthen its security personnel and surveillance with strict adherence to security tips and ensure conducive learning environment.
He called on parents, guardians and stakeholders not to relent in complementing government’s efforts by sustaining the various safety measures already put in place by the FCT administration, while reminding them that security is ever ybody’s business.
On December 11, last year , Katsina State witnessed a first- of- its- kind abduction of over 300 male students of Government Science Secondary School ( GSSS) Kankara by gunmen.
Their release some six days later forced the govern - ment to close all boarding schools in the state to check reoccurrence. The incident, like several others in some parts of the countr y, exposed how porous the boarding schools in the country are.