The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has said that only 37 per cent of schools across 10 states in Nigeria have early warning systems in place to identify threats, such as school attacks.
The agency, in its analysis titled: ‘Minimum Standards for Safe Schools (MSSS) monitoring report,’ concluded that the journey towards ensuring that Nigerian children learn in a safe environment is far from over.
It, therefore, called for intensified efforts to protect the country’s most vulnerable population—its children.The analysis looked at six result areas: a strong school system, violence against children, natural hazards, conflict, everyday hazards as well as safe school infrastructure, and uncovered significant disparities in the implementation of safe school standards across Nigerian states.
In addition to the finding on early warning systems and conflict, the report showed that while schools perform relatively well in terms of training school-based management committees on safety and responding to children’s well-being concerns, only 14 per cent of the participating schools across the 10 assessed states have functional, safe, accessible infrastructure and just 36 per cent have school staff trained on natural hazards.
The analysis came on the heels of disturbing reports of violence affecting schools, especially in the northern states, with brazen abductions of students on the rise.
According to reports by the United Nations, in the last 10 years, conflict-related violence has led to the abduction of more than 1,680 children; while at school and elsewhere, 180 children were killed due to attacks on schools, an estimated 60 school staff kidnapped and 14 killed, and more than 70 attacks on schools.
According to the UN, the threat of abduction of students is severely affecting learning. As of 2022, over one million children were afraid to return to school, and in 2021, around 11,500 schools were closed due to attacks.
UNICEF representative in Nigeria, Cristian Munduate, called on the government, partners, as well as the international community to take decisive action and ensure schools across all states have the resources and tools to fully implement the minimum standards for safety, focusing on the most vulnerable regions.
The agency stressed the need to address critical gaps in safe school infrastructure, strengthen law enforcement agencies and put security measures in place to protect educational institutions and communities from attacks and abductions.
It also enjoined government at all levels to prioritise education and child protection in national policies and budgetary allocations, to create a safer, more inclusive environment for Nigerian children.
Already, the agency said it is working with the government to ensure that every child can access a safe learning environment. For instance, Munduate said the organisation supported the inauguration of state safe school steering committees and the drafting of implementation plans for safe schools in 13 states.
To ensure that schools are safe havens, the UNICEF chief noted that a strong political will and proper implementation of policies are essential.
“Together, we can restore trust between educational institutions and communities they serve, ensuring schools are sanctuaries for learning and growth,” Munduate stated.
