More than 12 million children are traumatised and refuse to go to school because they are just too afraid they will be kidnapped, abducted or even killed.

Nigeria President Muhammadu Buhari, speaking though his Chief of Staff, professor Ibrahim Gambari, told the fourth International Conference on Safe School Declaration (SSD) held in Abuja on October 25 to 27, that the attacks on schools “have increased in number and have spread throughout the northern part of the country”, adding that the armed groups behind these attacks had made the northeast, northwest and central areas their strongholds.

He said a report released by SB Morgen showed that a total of 1,462 learners and education personnel were abducted between December 1, 2019 and September this year in school-related abductions, as well as home and community-related abductions of pupils and teachers.

Most kidnapped pupils are released after negotiations with their captors. But, Buhari said, “even when the abducted pupils are released, the trauma of the incidences remain long in their minds”.

The first mass school abduction in Nigeria was in the northeast in 2014, when the Jamā’at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da’way Wa’l-Jihād (JAS), more commonly referred to as Boko Haram,  abducted 276 girls from Chibok, triggering global outrage. About 100 of the girls are still missing.

Buhari said the government was committed to prioritising safety in schools and had identified and put mechanisms in place to ensure the safety and security of schools in Nigeria.

“The developed minimum standards for safe schools will communicate the mechanisms to be put in place by all schools to address all kinds of hazards and violence for the continuation of schooling at all times.

“Also, the developed SSD trainers’ guide and participants’ manuals are currently being used for the training of the security agencies and human rights organisations on the protection of education,”he said.

Buhari reaffirmed that the government had the primary responsibility of protecting and ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education at all levels for all learners, especially those in vulnerable situations.

Most kidnapped pupils were released after ransom was allegedly paid. Some were killed and others were rescued or survived or escaped their captors. But the trauma remained.

He said the conference on safe schools was apt and timely in view of the prevailing security challenges witnessed in schools.

“It’s my belief that the outcome of this conference will help to strengthen and protect the educational system in Nigeria and be a win for not just Nigeria but for the global community as well,” Buhari said.

The Childen’s Manifesto, authored by 300 children from 10 countries was launched at the conference.

In it, children made a series of demands to world leaders, including requesting they deny armies access to schools, and ensuring paths to schools were free of mines and explosives.

Save the Children said the manifesto painted a grim picture of how children faced threats and violence while at school and focused on the intense fears felt by children in response to these attacks.

The children wrote:

Children are scared – when armies come to schools, arrest children or fire live or rubber bullets at them and when tear gas is used.

Children are scared – when there are no shelters in their schools or when they are not big enough to protect everyone.

Children are scared – when military equipment passes outside the windows of their schools or houses and when they hear the sounds of explosions and gunfire. 

Children are scared – when educational institutions are used for military purposes, subjecting young boys and girls, teachers and technical staff at school to constant danger.

Birgitte Lange, CEO of Save the Children Norway, said: “The Children’s Manifesto shows that not only are children being harmed physically, they are also being harmed mentally by these brutal and prolonged attacks. It’s unthinkable that for many children, schools have changed from a safe place to learn to a terrifying place of violence. 

“Save the Children’s new report from the Sahel also shows that recruitment to armed groups is a growing and alarming trend in the region and we see a clear link between this trend and closed schools and attacks on schools and teachers.” 

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said that since the start of 2021, more than 1,400 pupils had been kidnapped by armed groups who demanded ransoms. Most of the girls and boys had been released after negotiations with the kidnappers.

The consequences were serious for education and the lives of children. Many schools had be closed because of the violence. And parents were scared to allow their children to attend school because they feared for their safety.

In a report by RNI writer Amina Abbagana, a lecturer at the University of Maiduguri, Abubakar Abba Aji, said the 12 years of the insurgency had been a major setback to developmental activities in Nigeria’s northeast and had nearly crippled the education ambitions of many children.

Aji said schoolchildren abductions, the fear of being raped and killed on the way to school and dire poverty contributed to the increase in number of pupils who dropped out of the education system.

“Neither the pupil nor the teacher can learn or teach in fear,” he said. “The government at all levels should ensure their peace for northeast and Nigeria at large to help achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development goal of giving quality education to children.”

Mansur Isa Buhari, a lecturer from Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, said that even before the insurgency started, northern Nigeria had battled to enrol children into schools. He said the situation now was only an escalation of an existing problem.

He said poor parents were scared of sending their children to school because if they were kidnapped they would not be able to pay the ransom. Already many had sold the farms to secure money for the ransoms.

“No one can say the government is not doing anything to tackle the issue of abductions and the threat to schools by insurgents. But there is no denying that not enough effort is being put into solving the problems.”