The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Saturday commended the release of 344 boys of Government Science Secondary School, Kankara Katsina state, who were abducted when a group of bandits invaded their hostel on Friday night of December 11.
UNICEF Nigeria Representative, Peter Hawkins, who made the commendation through a press release copied to The Nation, said the agency looks forward to the reuniting of the Children to their families.
While condemning the invasion by the bandits on the school, he noted that such an attack deprives the children of the right to an education and frightens them from going to the classroom, and their parents from sending their children to school.
He said ‘’schools must be safe places to study and develop, and learning should not become a perilous endeavor.’’
The statement read:” If any are still being held, we call on the attackers to release all children immediately. Any other children still being held captive in Nigeria should also be released’’.
“Schools should be safe. Children should never be the target of attack and yet, far too often in Nigeria, they are precisely those victims of attacks on their schools. Attacks on educational facilities are a grave violation of children’s rights. This incident is a disturbing reminder of the heavy toll that violence takes on civilians in North-west Nigeria, including children’’.
He called for Interventions to be put in place to ensure that schools are safe, and that all Nigerian children can learn without fear.
He further urged that interventions should take into account the important role that communities can play in ensuring the safety of schools, including through support for school-based management committees (SBMCs).