Today, the world marks the International Day to Protect Education from Attack. The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) designated 9 September to observe the Day. Education is acknowledged as a fundamental right, despite the situations, and countries must safeguard schools and children’s right to learn. Many children are denied this essential right because of the persistent attacks on educational facilities.
In commemorating the Day, UNGA denounces attacks on education and the use of schools by military forces in violation of international law. It recognises the grave consequence of such attacks, particularly on women and girls, and calls for action to prevent them. It also calls on states to do more to mobilise resources for humanitarian funding and education programmes.
While we admit the facts may vary across several countries, the bottom line remains the same. Increasingly in conflict countries and fragile states, teachers, and students are putting their lives at risk simply by showing up at school because rebels, terrorists, armed forces, and repressive regimes consider schools, universities, students, and teachers to be legitimate targets.
It is crucial that schools be safe because they are convenient and positive environments for teaching and learning. Dangers to students and teachers from external threats pose occupational health and safety issues, as shown by the COVID-19 pandemic. Other health and safety concerns include poorly designed school buildings, exposure to asbestos or other hazardous substances, psycho-social threats like work-related stress, violence, and harassment.
However, regardless of progress in protecting education from attack, the extent of assaults remains disturbing. The Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack (GCPEA), an inter-agency coalition that addresses the problem of targeted invasions on education during armed conflict, has documented a systematic pattern of onslaughts on education in 37 countries, and military use of schools and universities in 34 countries over the last five years.
Armed forces and groups were reportedly responsible for sexual violence in, or on the way to or from schools and universities in at least 17 countries, GCPEA said. Female students and teachers were directly targeted in the same period because of their gender, including the bombing of girls’ schools, abduction, rape, and harassment, in at least 21 countries.
Offensives on schools have become progressively frequent in news headlines in several African countries. Since the 2014 Chibok girls’ kidnapping in Nigeria, blitzes on schools have continued to rise. While some children have been released by or have escaped from the kidnappers, many remain in captivity. Leah Sharibu is one of those children.
At the age of 14, Leah was among the hundred girls kidnapped from a government school in Yobe in February 2018. Because of her disinclination to conform to the beliefs of her kidnappers, she has since been held captive like many other children in the region, including some Chibok girls. Whether they are released or not, the forays disrupt or completely halt education for many of these children.
These stories, unfortunately, are not uncommon. Nearly two million children, particularly in Western and Central Africa, cannot attend schools following the growing insecurity in and around institutions. In numerous instances, schools are direct targets of assailment. Data from 2018 show that more than a quarter of all the verified incursions on schools globally took place in the region.
Nigeria’s descent further into the cavity of state failure is becoming ignominiously obvious in its incapability to protect school children from banditry. Reports say that more than 800 students, including those attending higher institutions, have been abducted in coordinated attacks on schools in mostly Northern states in recent times. While some students were lucky to be freed, others like Dorothy Yohanna, Precious Nwakacha, Sadiq Muazu and Benjamin Habilla were all brutally murdered.
Notwithstanding the closure of schools for over six months nationwide two years ago, no thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, states have once again been compelled to shut over 60 mostly boarding schools in susceptible areas because of insecurity. This has increased the number of out-of-school children put at 20 million, as parents are daily being restrained from taking their children to school. Security must be beefed up within and around schools, especially boarding schools located in remote areas.
Incidentally, the Northern states that are closing down schools make up for over 80 per cent of the total number of children out of school and the area is the least developed region in the country. But the answer to insecurity in schools is not to shut the schools down. It is to enrich security by involving the communities. The closing of schools inadvertently fosters Boko Haram’s agenda, which is that Western education is evil and should be discontinued.
Unfortunately, long after the Federal Government inaugurated the Safe School Initiative to ensure a safe school environment for schoolchildren, things have worsened even as the $30 million raised for the programme has now become a subject of an altercation. This does not characterise Nigeria as a country that is ready to take education or the security of students sincerely.
The growth in violent attacks in and around schools will not be deciphered overnight, but identifying the magnitude of the challenge is the first step. Governments can build schools with the most modern infrastructure, equip them with the best books and learning materials, and train teachers with the best pedagogical techniques. However, little advancement will be made in education if children cannot attend school because they worry about what might happen if they do.
Article 26 of the UN Declaration of Human Rights stipulates that everyone is entitled to education. This right to education has been reaffirmed in many human rights treaties and declarations adopted by the United Nations, to which Nigeria is a party. We must therefore protect this right by ensuring that children are not kidnapped. As Amnesty International points out, schools should be safe places and children should not be compelled to choose between their education and their lives.