The attacks on schools by insurgents have claimed the lives of more than 2,295 teachers in the North East between 2009 to 2022.
Registrar/chief executive of Teachers’ Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN), Professor Josiah Ajiboye, who disclosed this, on Friday in Abuja, also revealed that over 19,000 others have been displaced, and over 910 schools damaged or destroyed due to the conflict.
Ajiboye, therefore, called for the full implementation of the Safe Schools Declarations guidelines endorsed by Nigeria in 2015 and ratified by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019.
He made the call while delivering a paper at the 2022 National Delegates Conference of the Nigeria Union of Teachers, NUT, in Ibadan.
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- Attack On Schools: Over 2,295 teachers killed in North East between 2009 – 2022, says TRCN
- Attack On Schools: Over 2,295 teachers killed in North East between 2009 – 2022, says TRCN
He further stated that over 1,500 schools were forced to close due to insurgency and more than 600,000 children have lost access to education.
The TRCN boss also called on the federal government to review its security architecture to address the deteriorating security situation because of terrorism and violent attacks on education.
He noted that as a way forward, federal, state and local education authorities should facilitate the immediate implementation of the National Policy on Safety, Security and Violence Free Schools, NPSSVFS, by making budgetary provisions.
He urged the federal government to increase domestic education expenditure by 50 per cent over the next two years as committed at the Global Partnership for Education, GPE, education summit.
Speaking on the impact of attacks on schools, he noted that “attacks on education create a ripple effect and set in motion a range of negative impacts such as loss of education, early marriage, early pregnancy, and stigma associated with sexual violence and children born from rape, all of which can dramatically affect female students’ futures.”
He said schools used for various military purposes, including to hold and execute captives, and as barracks for insurgents, further contributed to parents’ and students’ fears about the safety of sending their children, and especially their daughters, back to school after the insurgents had departed.
On the role of teachers in safeguarding learners, he noted that teachers should keep a close watch on learners to ensure that abuse and violence against learners are prevented or promptly responded to if they occur, adding that they should observe learners closely for any signs and symptoms of safeguarding concerns.
He also urged teachers to report promptly suspected or actual cases of abuse or violence against a learner; protect learners from being abused or maltreated by peers or staff; popularise child safeguarding notions and practices in the school, and demonstrate the need to safeguard learners by promoting and practising positive discipline.
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