Effects of Boko Haram Insurgency on Public Schools and Responses by Government of Borno State, Nigeria

Abstract

Boko Haram insurgency in the Northeast affected all sectors of human endeavour including education. This study examined the effects of the insurgency on the education sector in Borno State. Heads of institutions from five primary, four junior secondary and four senior secondary schools in each of the three senatorial zones were selected based on the availability of the heads of the schools and interviewed with a structured 24 item questionnaire consisting of both open ended and close ended questions. This was triangulated with official data obtained from Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) and other sources. Analysis showed that schools in Borno Central (23.3%) and Southern (15.8%) senatorial zones are severely damaged in terms of infrastructure. where classrooms, laboratories and hostels were damaged. As a response measure, government embarked on immediate closure of schools, and later their merger into learning centres in Maiduguri and Biu, development of Educational Sector plan and securing of schools including fencing and barb wire. Other measures include increased government spending on education to provide facilities, free lunch and transportation services to pupils through the school bus transit scheme. It was recommended that recruitment of more teachers into both primary and secondary schools as well as sustenance of the school feeding programme are required.