- Title: Public high schools in Nigeria's embattled Borno state reopen after two years.
- Date: 28th September 2016
- Summary: BORNO, NIGERIA (SEPTEMBER 26, 2016) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF SCHOOL BUILDING VARIOUS OF STUDENTS IN CLASS/ TEACHER AT FRONT OF CLASS VARIOUS OF STUDENTS (SOUNDBITE) (English) STUDENT, SALAMA JAMES, SAYING: "When the school was closed I was just staying at home doing nothing and I was bothered because the school was closed because of the IDP's and now I am very happy because I got a school and they are teaching us very important things." VARIOUS OF STUDENTS REGISTERING THEIR NAMES WITH SECURITY VARIOUS OF STUDENTS AT ASSEMBLY STUDENTS BEING INSPECTED STUDENTS ON ASSEMBLY GROUND (SOUNDBITE) (English) HEADMASTER, GRA JUNIOR DAY SECONDARY SCHOOL, NASIRU MUHAMED, SAYING: "I'm appealing to the state government and the federal government to come to our aids and consider us, so the IDP's should at least have a location whereby, they would move the IDP's to that side, so that our pupils will be able to go back to their various schools." VARIOUS OF STUDENTS IN CLASSROOM
- Embargoed: 13th October 2016 13:03
- Keywords: Boko Haram Schools IDPs Chibok girls insecurity
- Location: BORNO, NIGERIA
- City: BORNO, NIGERIA
- Country: Nigeria
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,International/National Security
- Reuters ID: LVA00151HBXP3
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Public Secondary schools across Nigeria's Borno state, reopened for learning on Monday (September 26) more than two years after they were shut down due to Boko Haram attacks.
Boko Haram kidnapped more than 270 girls from a school in Chibok, northeast Nigeria, two years ago, as part of a seven-year insurgency to set up an Islamic state in the north that has killed some 20,000 people and displaced more than two million.
Dozens of the girls managed to flee to safety in the initial melee, but more than 200 are still missing.
Schools in Borno were shut in March, 2014, after militants attacked a school in neighbouring Yobe town. The government reopened primary schools in 2015 but secondary schools remained closed because they had been taken over by Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).
"When the school was closed I was just staying at home doing nothing and I was bothered because the school was closed because of the IDP's and now I am very happy because I got a school and they are teaching us very important things," said Salama James, one of the students.
The United Nations says violence in northeast Nigeria and neighbouring countries targeted by Boko Haram has forced more than one million children out of school, leaving them prey to abuse, abduction and recruitment by armed groups.
There was high security at the schools that opened doors on Monday but insecurity and fear of violence have kept some away, while many remain displaced and away from their old learning institutions.
Some schools are also still hosting IDPs.
"I'm appealing to the state government and the federal government to come to our aids and consider us, so the IDP's should at least have a location whereby, they would move the IDP's to that side, so that our pupils will be able to go back to their various schools," said Nasiru Muhamed, the headmaster of Gra Junior Day Secondary school.
Even before the conflict, Nigeria had the highest number of out-of-school children globally, more than 10 million, said the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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