NLC secures 23 Gombe inmates’ release

Maiduguri

The United Nations Children Education Fund has said the Boko Haram insurgency, over the years, caused colossal damage to educational facilities and inflicted trauma among teachers and students in the North East.
UNICEF Nigeria, Borno Chief Field Office, Mr. Geoffrey Ijumba, who stated this yesterday at a symposium organised in collaboration with EU, University of Maiduguri and Borno/Yobe SUBEB in Maiduguri said about 2, 295 teachers were killed by the insurgents at the heat of the attacks.
He said statistics showed in the past 24 months of children of peace project that 1,397 primary and junior secondary schools were destroyed.
He added that 2,295 teachers were also killed during the Boko Haram insurgency while UNICEF trained 873 teachers on psycho social support (PSS) and conflict disaster risk reduction (CDRR) comprising of 243 teachers from Yobe and 639 teachers from Borno states, respectively.
The UNICEF head said 32, 049 children of primary and secondary schools were reached with learning or instructional materials, where 15, 939 boys and 16, 110 girls benefitted from the support in Borno and Yobe states.
Geoffrey noted also that the symposium was organized purely to assess what have been achieved under the UNICEF children of peace project in the North East crisis area, to gather and invest in creating a protective and safe learning environment for the children of Borno and Yobe states.
He urged the partners and other collaborators to sustain and build a greater partnership in future until it achieves 100 per cent of its target under the children of peace project.
Ijumba further said, comparatively, in the North East, only 46 per cent of primary school age children attend school while 88 per cent attend school in the South, with the figures showing that girls are the worst in not going to school.
“54 per cent of the children in the North East are out of school, which is unacceptable and we must do more and we can do more. We must do more to ensure that every child is protected, enrolls and stays in a safe and secure learning space,” Geoffrey said.

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