The International Day For the Protection of Education is a day set aside to review and draw attention on the importance of protecting education, to ensure that a generation of children are saved. Speaking to journalists in Abuja Wednesday, to commemorate the day, UNICEF Education Officer responsible for emergencies at the national level, Judith Giwa-Amu, said when education is attacked, (educational asset being human lives, that is, children and teachers non teaching personnel, . When they are attacked , their lives are affected in one way or the other, and those that are not physically attacked suffer psycho-social effect that can affect them and prevent them from continuing education trajectory.“We know that Education is the acquisition of knowledge for use to support socio economic development of a nation .“When you have children who are out of school, it is because their parents prefer them being alive than going to school,,” he said.
When this happens, the next generation becomes an endangered species as children experience gap which are hardly ever filled, thus making competition with children outside difficult.“In our relationship in education emergencies working group, we have found the need to partner with Ministries of Education, Defence and Humanitarian Affairs.“We realise that the Ministry of Defence has a great role to play in countries of the world and in Nigeria ,we know that education will not happen in some areas in the North-East if the military is not physically present . However we see that with military forces, it changes the civilian nature of a school. We are looking for ways in which issues concerning school safety and security can be mainstreamed into their strategic document .“For them to be able to handle the children ,the school in a manner that their security is ensured .The safe school declaration is the one that has been signed by the 104 countries ,Nig is among the 37 implementing countries.
He said in the implementation guidelines, education is linked to the military as it recognises their role and the need to support Education.He said security , education and humanitarian sectors are key sectors that must be engaged by all countries to the safe school declaration because they have been identified as the major organs in charge of implementation of safe school declaration. Minister of Defence Maj-General Bashir Magash, on his part, said education is one of the most prized assets of a country; it is so because it provides the solid foundation for nation’s growth and development Thus, the survival and future of a nation is threatened when her education is under attacked.
Attack on the educational facilities or learners or sexual harrasment of the learners or school personnel, forced recruitment of learners or school personnel into armed group. Therefore, attack on education is a crime against a nation.
“No nation can sleep in the event of continued attack on her education. “Likewise the Nigerian military shall not relent in our efforts to protect the integrity of Nigeria and ensure her continued existence and growth in safety and security . “We shall continue to make efforts to ensure that education is not stopped even in the face of conflicts, keeping in mind all necessary protocols and guidelines including Safe Schools Declaration.“As Nigerian Military continues to step up efforts towards protecting our national assets including education, I call on communities, groups a nd individuals to avail us all necessary cooperation . It is in our togetherness that we shall protect education from all forms of attack and save a generation.,” he
