Children in Kirjiri are becoming more ‘uncontrollable’ by the day because they do not go to school – they cannot go because there is no school.

The community in Kirjiri in the Jere Local Government Area has never had a school.

“We desperately need the Borno State government and well-meaning institutions and individuals to put their resources together to build a school,” Fatima Mustapha, a mother of three, said.

Mustapha said her children had to be reined in because of their constant bad behaviour.

“Educated and uneducated children are not the same. Educated children are taught manners and good behaviour. Uneducated children are only good for running errands, being stubborn and fighting with other children,” she said.

She was concerned that her children would grow up to be illiterate.

Another resident, Mohammed Bukar, described his and other children as “uncontrollable”, blaming their behaviour on the lack of schooling.

“It is getting worse by the day.”

He said it was imperative that a school was built. “Good teachers teach good manners and behaviour. But our children are running amok in the area because they don’t have a school to attend.”

Bukar said education should not be a privilege: “It is one of the basic human rights.”

He  said: “Our children spend three nights outside our homes. We don’t know where they go in the daytime. We sometimes think they have gone missing but later we find them playing somewhere.”