Public Schools To Reopen In Borno After Ramadan

The Borno State Government has
announced that public schools in the
state will re-open after the
Ramadan fast.
It would be recalled that public schools
in the northeastern state of Nigeria were
shut on 14 March, 2014 following waves
of attacks by suspected Boko Haram
insurgents on schools in neighbouring
Yobe State.
Announcing the decision to reopen the
schools after the ongoing Muslims
fasting period, the Commissioner for
Education, Inuwa Kubo, said in
Maiduguri on Friday that government
had put in place machinery for the
reopening of the schools.
“Only schools located in safe environments
will be re-opened, while students whose
schools were located in unsafe
environment will be transferred to safer
areas,” he said.
* Governor Shettima of Borno State
“You will recall that public schools were
closed down in the wake of attacks on
schools by suspected insurgents in March.
You also recall that final year students
were left in the schools to write their
NECO/SSCE examinations.
“The situation led to mass transfer of final
year students from schools located in
different parts of the state to either the
capital or some few locations considered
safe. So, the few schools available were
made examination centres to accommodate
all the final year students,” Mr. Kubo
explained.
According to Premium Times, the
commissioner informed that the aborted
2014 NECO/SSCE in Borno state would
soon be concluded, adding that they are
making arrangement to re-open the
schools to other students after the
examination.
* Schoolgirls in Borno State
“The NECO/SSCE examinations will end in
a couple of days and we hope to re-open
the schools immediately so that the
students can complete their studies,” Mr.
Kubo said.
He said that since the state was still
faced with the Boko Haram insurgency,
only schools located in Maiduguri and
Biu headquarters of Biu Local
Government Council, would be re-
opened.
“We are going to move all the students to
schools in either Maiduguri or Biu which
are the only safe locations we have now.
This means that we have to adjust some
schools infrastructure to accommodate the
transferred students,” he said.
Commenting on when other schools would
be reopened, the commissioner said the
process might take a little time but
government would ensure that the
schools were re-opened in a short while.
“The re-opening of the schools will mean
that our students will remain in classes
while their counterparts in other states are
on vacation. This is because they have to
catch up with the classes they missed
while the schools were closed,” he said.
Kubo also commended the Federal
Government’s Safe School Initiative
which is aimed at providing security in
schools.
“We welcome the idea of Safe Schools
Initiative which is targeted at providing safe
environment in schools. In fact, the state
government is very keen at implementing
the programme.
“But I think that the best solution is to
tackle the insurgency head long which is
the cause of the insecurity in schools. We
are appealing to the Federal Government to
take concrete steps towards quashing the
problem by stepping up military campaign
against the Boko Haram insurgents for
peace to return,” he said.
The Boko Haram sect has claimed
responsibility for terror attacks that
have killed thousands of innocent lives
in Borno state and other states across
Nigeria.
No fewer than 200 schoolgirls were
kidnapped by members of Boko Haram
at the Government Girls Secondary
Schools in Chibok, Borno State on 14
April, 2014.
More than three months after the
incidents, the abducted girls are still in
captivity while the Nigerian federal
government led by President Goodluck
Jonathan has insisted that its not ready
to negotiate with the terrorists’ demand
for swap of the schoolgirls.