Schools where mass abductions took place in some states in the North have remained shut many months after, raising concern of exacerbating the out-of-school challenge facing the region, Daily Trust Saturday investigations reveal.
Schools in Niger, Kaduna, Katsina and Kebbi, among others, had faced mass abductions of school children.
However, months after students of some of these schools have been released from captivity, the hope of continuing their education remained hanging as their schools remained shut long after the incidents.
Niger
In Niger State, three years after the attack on Government Science College Kagara, the school has remained under lock and key.
Residents said most of the students in the college, especially those from rural areas, had quit schooling due to lack of alternative science colleges in the area.
Daily Trust Saturday recalls that the school in Kagara in Rafi Local Government Area of the state was attacked in February 2021, during which students and teachers were kidnapped and released after spending days in captivity.
While the Niger State Government announced the closure of the school after the attack, the state’s ministry of education was directed to transfer students to schools in their immediate communities to continue with their education.
Subsequently, the present administration in the state had in 2023 announced its plan to relocate some of the affected boarding schools, including Government Science College Kagara to Minna, the state capital, to allow students continue with their education.
But residents of the banditry affected communities and Kagara Old Students Association have called for reopening of the school with adequate security on ground instead of the planned relocation.
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They pointed out that relocating the affected schools meant that the government had given up on the fight against the terrorists, saying that many of their children, especially the girl child, would find it difficult to travel long distances to Minna, the state capital, to access the new schools.
The National President of the Kagara Old Students Association, and Permanent Secretary, Economic Affairs, Office of the Secretary to Niger State Government, Dr. Idris Abdullahi Legbo, said they have been with stakeholders and community leaders as well as parents with a view to talking to government to reopen the school to enable children return to school.
He said since the closure, teaching and learning activities in the school had collapsed, leading to further decay of the already dilapidated structures in the school.
Dr Legbo expressed concern over the negative impact the continuous closure of the school would have on the future of children who have dropped out, saying that the association had sought for support and interventions from stakeholders and development partners for the renovation of some structures, but the efforts had been hampered by the closure.
The District Head of Kagara, Alhaji Mohammed Saliu Tanko, maintained that the school was the only science college in the emirate, and it has produced notable personalities across the state.
Read more: https://dailytrust.com/years-after-schools-hit-by-abductions-remain-closed/
