Parents may not send wards to schools
I am married now says, female student

By Amaka Abayomi & Ndahi Marama

AS schools in Borno State are about to reopen after 200 days, due to incessant attacks and abduction of 278 girls from their hostels at Government College, Chibok, by members of the militant Islamist group, Boko Haram, the questions on the lips of all are: how realistic is the prospect of opening the schools, considering the fact that the Federal Government is yet to secure the release of over 200 girls?

Will parents allow their children and wards go back to school? Are the students, especially girls, still willing to go back to the classroom? Do the present socio-economic and environmental factors in Borno communities encourage a return to school? These and many more are questions that must  be answered by a concerned government and other stakeholders.

On the night of April 14, dozens of Boko Haram members invaded Chibok and abducted more than 200 schoolgirls who were writing their final year S.S.C.E exams at Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok. Of the 278 girls who were kidnapped, 14 escaped while in transit, while another 39 escaped from captivity two weeks later.

Also, on February 24, 59 students were killed in Federal Government Colleges at Monguno and Lassa, Borno State. This prompted the Federal Government to, as an emergency precautionary measure, order the immediate closure of both schools to safeguard the lives and property of the over 115,000 students and their teachers.

Reptiles and other wild animals promptly made some Borno schools their home. Others in Maiduguri became home to over 12,000 Internally Displaced Persons from Damboa, Gwoza, Bama, Konduga, Dikwa and Gamboru Ngala council areas, which were under the control of insurgents.

Lost cases

Aside these discouraging facts, most students do not seem to care about schools re-opening. Some have been married off while others, especially the boys, are engaged in small businesses.

One of such is 18 year old Ali Abba Shuwa, who is supposed to be a final year student of Government College, Maiduguri. Right now, Shuwa, who considers himself a businessman, has no intention of going back to school.

Shuwa said: “Since the closure of schools, I was advised by my father to engage in something that will assist me economically. I am happy to inform you that I am now a perfect car washer and I do make brisk business.

“Even if government reopens schools today, I am not going back because I am contented with this job as I go home with nothing less than N2,000 daily. I can now boast of over N100,000 in my bank account. So why do I have to bother about going back to school?”

Aisha Ahmed Abdullahi is an S.S. 1 female student of Government Secondary School, Mafa. She succumbed to her parents’ advice and got married to a 50-year-old Mallam.

Unsure if she’ll continue her education, Aisha said: “My husband is in the best position to answer this question because he is the only person that has control over me. If he says I should go back to complete my education, I will do so. But I doubt he will because I am the third wife and he cherishes me much.”

Overstretched private schools

The prolonged closure of public schools led to the over-stretching of facilities in many private schools as parents, who still want their wards to continue with their education, had to enrol them into private schools.

Appealing to corporate and well meaning individuals to help salvage the situation, the Proprietor of Future Prowess Islamic Foundation, a school for orphans and vulnerable children, Barrister Zanna Mustapha, said the school cannot accommodate more orphans as their facilities are being stretched thin.

He said: “This school was established eight years ago to give support services to orphans and vulnerable children, but unfortunately, our facilities are now overstretched as the number of orphans keep increasing due to activities of Boko Haram and the closure of public schools.

“We have over 2,000 orphans on our waiting lists, but we cannot admit them now because we can’t cope. I am appealing to Gordon Brown Foundation and other organizations to assist us.”

Borno prepares

However, despite the breach in the ceasefire deal between Federal Government and Boko Haram, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Alhaji Mohammed Kauji, said preparations are in top gear as the state government is making frantic efforts to make the schools conducive for teaching and learning purposes when schools reopen in November.

To actualise his promise, Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima inaugurated a 19- man committee on the resuscitation of primary and secondary education in the state.

Aside purchasing and distributing 78 buses to schools across the state, the outgoing state Commissioner of Education, Comrade Musa Inuwa Kubo, said contracts have been awarded for the construction of 20 two-bedroom bungalow flat staff quarters in several schools across the state as well as the drilling of boreholes in select schools.

CHIBOK GIRLS—Schoolgirls who have escaped from Boko Haram kidnappers in the village of Chibok, arrive at the Government House to speak with Governor Kashim Shettima in Maiduguri, yesterday. Shettima met with 28 schoolgirls that escaped from the abductors, their parents and parents of more than 200 missing girls to seek ways of assisting them. Photo: AFP.

Also, the state government disclosed that it is going to spend N100 million on 51 of the escaped schoolgirls to complete their secondary school in another state as plans have been concluded to send them to Kaduna or Jos to continue their studies, while six of them have already secured scholarship to complete their secondary education at the American University of Nigeria Academy, Yola.

Parents react

Vanguard sought to know from parents what they’ll do if their daughter(s) was among those abducted by the militant group and these are their responses.

Speaking in a separate interview, a mother of one of the Chibok girls, Mrs Rebecca Samuel, said: “Government should not be ashamed to ask for help from other countries to rescue our daughters, since they can’t do it alone. Until we see our daughters, we don’t trust government and all their claims of a ceasefire because Boko Haram has proved that they can agree on a ceasefire today and change their minds tomorrow.

“I will be thankful to God if I wake up tomorrow to find out that my daughter is back. I don’t care if she comes back pregnant, the important thing is that she is alive so that she can return to school and complete her education.”

Completing her education

Praying that she doesn’t live to experience her child being abducted, Mrs. Tarilla Adefe said; “the truth is that in Nigeria, you will be on your own when something like that happens to you. I just pray I do not live to witness something as horrible as my kids being abducted by people without conscience who would not blink at the thought of sleeping with children.

“But should something so horrible happen, after reporting to the relevant authorities, you will pray and hit the road and the public with every arsenal available and keep praying until that nightmare ends.”

For Mrs. Tina Obijeh; “what can anybody do because Boko Haram have all it takes to secure their children. I can’t do anything even if I have the powers. Even the girls that have been missing, has anybody been able to rescue them, even with the protests and  prayers.

The truth is that those guys are not human beings and how many of them have their children in such schools?