Mr. Edward Kallon, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Nigeria has alerted the Federal Government about the dangers of school attacks and kidnappings.
Kidnappings have harmed hundreds of children in a variety of states, according to Kallon, who criticized the ongoing attacks on schools.
“The collective future of Nigeria is under threat,” the UN representative said, who sounded the alarm that education is under attack in Nigeria.
He mentioned this in a statement on September 9, 2021, which is the International Day to Protect Education from Attack.
“UN condemns attack on schools, calls for more efforts to protect students and ensure uninterrupted teaching and learning,” according to the statement, which was accessed by The PUNCH.
Attacks against schools, according to Kallon, are “a direct attack on the future generation,” as they are“it is traumatic for the children, undermines their dignity, and sometimes leads affected families to withdraw them from education entirely”.
“I strongly condemn every form of attack that has kept many children away from schools. I call on the Federal and State Governments to do more to protect schools from attack and to ensure that teaching and learning are safe and conducive in all schools in Nigeria,” he said.
“Whenever teaching and learning are disrupted, the impact on human capital development is enormous as the recovery period is always tortuous and longer than the length of the initial disruption,” according to the Resident Coordinator.
Nigeria, he believes, cannot afford to allow the ongoing attacks on schools to continue unabated.
“Children are traumatized; parents are scared; teachers and school administrators are afraid; attacks on schools are gradually spreading to areas not known to insurgencies. With education under attack, the collective future of Nigeria is under threat. This must stop now,” he warned.
He urged the federal government to assess progress in implementing the declaration’s safe school provisions and to fully implement commitments made in 2019 by taking decisive measures to protect education and offer “this great nation’s children the chance to fulfill their promise.”
Kallon stated that the right to education was frequently violated, particularly in conflict-affected places where entire populations may be denied access to education.
“With over 10 million children already out of school, the conflict has aggravated the situation and deeply affected education and the prospects of many young people, especially its most vulnerable ones. In the last academic year, it is estimated that 1.3 million children have been impacted by attacks or abductions at schools in Nigeria,” he said.
“Across the northeast region alone, over 600,000 children remain out of school and some 1.1 million need educational support to stay in school. This has all been compounded by the setbacks due to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
According to UNESCO, there have been 13,400 instances of assaults on educational facilities globally in the last five years, with more than 22,000 students and instructors injured or killed.
Since December, over 1,000 pupils in Nigeria have been kidnapped by bandits who have targeted schools.
The majority have been released following negotiations, while a large number remain imprisoned in jungle camps.
