Send your child to school or face prosecution. This pretty much sums up Borno state’s latest stand on education. Having offered quite a number of incentives to encourage parents to send their children to school; free bus rides, free meals, books, and uniforms, the government of Borno state now seemingly at their wit’s end have resorted to a radical measure.
On Monday, November 7, 2016, Alhaji Kaka-Shehu Lawan, the Attorney General/Commissioner of Justice, Borno State, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the state would prosecute parents who fail to enrol their children in schools. “Any parent [that] either out of ignorance or willingly refuses to send his child to school will be made to face the full wrath of the law,” Justice Shehu Lawan said.
The frustration of the Borno state government is understandable. If there’s anything northern Nigeria is infamous for besides the insurgency, it’s the region’s high level of illiteracy. Of the 40 percent of children aged 6–11 not in school, Northern Nigeria accounts for the lowest school attendance rate in the country. This has prompted some states in the region to launch a massive literacy campaign, and also to pass an education bill.
Justice Shehu Lawan said it was lamentable that in spite of the incentives introduced by the government, some parents still did not send their children/wards to school. According to him, the Borno state government has built new schools and renovated schools vandalised in the course of the insurgency. The government has also procured 150 luxury buses to provide children in Maiduguri and surrounding communities’ free ride to school, and is also looking at the possibility of introducing cash incentives to parents to allow their children remain in school, an initiative earlier launched by the Sokoto state government in conjunction with the United Nations Children Fund.
But given all that the people of Borno had been through in recent years, should parents be blamed for refusing to send their children to school? Borno has been front and centre with issues relating to the insurgency. Apart from the notorious abduction of the Chibok girls two years ago, Boko Haram militants have launched several attacks on villages and communities in the state. And in spite of the recent return of some people to liberated communities, the state still hosts about 32 camps for internally displaced persons.
Perhaps more than free bus rides, meals, books, and uniforms, parents want to be assured of their children’s safety if and when they are allowed to go to school, especially as they are aware that Boko Haram is still at large. The Borno state government will do well to put this in consideration before dragging frightened parents to court.
