National Commission for Nomadic Education has lamented the effects of clashes between herdsmen and farmers on nomadic schools across the country. Pointing a finger at the clashes in Benue state alone, the commission said 12 of the 24 nomadic schools had been closed down since the wake of the crisis in the state.
Executive Secretary of the commission, Prof. Bashir Usman, disclosed this at a workshop for nomadic teachers in the South-South region held in Benin, Edo state.
“The conflict is definitely affecting child enrolment in nomadic schools, particularly in Benue State. We have 24 nomadic schools there; 12 of them have been shut down completely due to the conflict and they have all moved to Nasarawa state. “The other 12 schools that are not affected are fishers and migrant primary schools.
But the 12 nomadic schools have been completely shut down now”, he added. Bashir explained that the workshop was organised to train teachers in the region on the use of curriculum guides, record keeping, multi-grade teaching techniques as well as guidance and counselling. “Until we train and retrain teachers, the quality of output will definitely not be qualitative.
Guidance and counselling is particularly important to us because it will help the teachers to counsel some of the pupils, who have been traumatised in the conflict, so that they can fit into the society,” he said.
