Keeping Nigeria's schoolchildren safe

NIGERIA'S EDUCATION SYSTEM STRUGGLES WITH LOW ENROLLMENT, BUT THE PROBLEM IS PARTICULARLY ACUTE IN THE STATES WHERE ABDUCTIONS ARE MOST COMMON

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Hundreds of Nigerian children remain in captivity or unaccounted for after being abducted from their schools in November. Even the recent rescue of 100 students has done little to restore confidence. In many areas of northern and central Nigeria, school attendance has plummeted -either because schools are closed or because parents are keeping their children at home.

This situation must be remedied before the next school term begins in mid-January. To that end, a series of school-safety proposals has been presented to the Nigerian government and international funders. These were prepared by UNICEF's on-theground team, business leaders who helped finance the last Safe Schools Initiative, and local and national administrators.