Poised by the pains and
\ngrief\u00a0 of the abduction of over 200 school girls in a government secondary school in Chibok, Bornu State, Nigeria, by the Boko Haram sect in April this year, the United Nations Special\u00a0 Envoy for Global Education, Gordon Brown, nursed the idea of a safe school\u00a0 initiative, as a panacea to the rising threat to girls education in the northern part of the country.
\nWhen\u00a0 the initiative was eventually launched in May 2014, during the World\u2019s Economic Summit 2014 in Abuja, Nigeria, Mr. Gordon Brown said. \u201cThe first step in\u00a0 response to this crisis has been to show our support. The next phase is now to take practical measures\u00a0 to make schools safer. We cannot stand by and\u00a0 see schools shut down, girls cut off from their education and parents in fear\u00a0 for their\u00a0 daughters\u2019 lives\u201d.
\nGrace a dieu, six months after the launch of this all-important initiative, the first\u00a0 batch of the\u00a0 beneficiaries, numbering about\u00a0 2,400 pupils was enrolled, during which the Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, expressed\u00a0 the Federal Governments of Nigeria\u2019s determination\u00a0 to use the initiative to bring\u00a0 back hope for parents and children\u00a0 whose sense\u00a0 of safety has been shattered\u00a0 by the activities of terrorists. She also announced that 800 students have been selected from each\u00a0 of the three states worst hit by the activities of the insurgents, to be given full scholarship at 32 federal\u00a0 schools across the country. While we commend the effort of the Safe\u00a0 School Initiative Steering Committee, I think that the velocity at which they are moving needs be accentuated a little, especially\u00a0 given the fact that\u00a0 the insecurity situations in the country\u00a0 needs be\u00a0 tackled with great\u00a0 dispatch to fore-stall further loses.
\nThe recent bombing of Government Technical school in the city of Potiskum, Yobe State North East of Nigeria, should make Nigerians and their leaders know that the safety of schools in Nigeria, especially those in the north-Eastern states is a concept that\u00a0 must not be treated with levity.
\nSix months after the inauguration of the\u00a0 safe school initiative\u00a0 in Nigeria, one expects a vigorous measure by the authorities concerned at restoring hope and faith in schools in the north-east to make real its intention of rebuilding confidence\u00a0 in parents over their daughters\u2019 safety at school, by preventing terrorists from forcing children out of school.
\nInstead, what is witnessed is a scene that looks so much as a scholarship arrangement\u00a0 still in unsafe environment.
\nIt truly the education system that has the potential\u00a0 to transform Nigeria must not be undermined, then the safe school initiative, which has what it takes to put Nigeria back on track and help more and more girls and boys go to school and learn, must be accorded the priority it deserves.
\nFor me, yes scholarship could be part of the package\u00a0 especially for the already devastated\u00a0 and hopeless, yet,\u00a0 it must not be\u00a0 forgotten\u00a0 that the greater\u00a0 emphasis should dwell\u00a0 on school and community\u00a0 interventions, with special measures for the most-at-risk and vulnerable children.
\nWe were told that the initiative\u00a0 would build\u00a0 community security groups to promote safe zones for education, consisting of teachers, parents, police, community leaders and young people themselves. This I consider key in ensuring safety at school and if such had been put in place, perhaps, the Potiskum School bombing would have been averted. What a loss!
\nThe Head of Gender Parity and Skills Initiatives, World Economic Forum, Saadia Zahidi, may not have been in the spirit when he noted that,
\n\u201cOne of Africa\u2019s greatest assets is its young people who will drive its future development. According to Mr. Zahidi, the safe school initiative can help Africa unlock its potentials and in this light could be seen as a crucial intervention.
\nFor those who know the worth of education to humanity, no payment could be seen\u00a0 too costly for its preservation. Perhaps, that could be why. This Day Newspaper publisher, Mr. Nduka Obaigbena, while describing the reaction\u00a0 of the Nigeria business community\u00a0 towards the abduction of over 200 school girls in Chibok, in April, which he described as a reflection of the threat to education to Nigeria, said, \u201cthe\u00a0 greater danger is in the fear of going to\u00a0 school. We could lose\u00a0 a generation\u00a0 of children\u00a0 who are\u00a0 afraid of\u00a0 going to school,\u201d he warned.
\nHowever, if anything has to be done at all, then such deserves to be done well. We cannot wait to make our citadels of learning safe when there will be obviously no souls to attend them. The time to save our education system, our children\u00a0 and our future is now! A stitch in time saves nine.<\/p>\n

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Sylvia ThankGod \u2013Amadi<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Poised by the pains and grief\u00a0 of the abduction of over 200 school girls in a government secondary school in Chibok, Bornu State, Nigeria, by the Boko Haram sect in April this year, the United Nations Special\u00a0 Envoy for Global Education, Gordon Brown, nursed the idea of a safe school\u00a0 initiative, as a panacea to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[22],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n