On Friday, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) voiced their profound disappointment with the Federal Government’s handling of the educational needs of 1,000 children displaced by the Boko Haram insurgency in the North East, according to the Daily Times.
On Friday, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) voiced their profound disappointment with the Federal Government’s handling of the educational needs of 1,000 children displaced by the Boko Haram insurgency in the North East, according to the Daily Times.
The NHRC observed a makeshift school in the Sangere IDP camp. The school is responsible for the educational needs of more than 1,000 children. According to the NHRC, it is a task for which the school is woefully unequipped for.
The commission expressed its disappointment with the state of the education services available at Sangere IDP camp, arguing that access to education is a fundamental human right. The government’s uncoordinated response to the educational needs of the children at the IDP camp were viewed to be the cause of the current predicament.
The NHRC’s State coordinator, Mrs. Grace Mamza, pointed to several governmental lapses which indicated the inadequate attention the situation had received from the Federal Government.
In addition to these observations, the NHRC also inspected the donated tents and other logistical equipment which the commission had facilitated.
Mrs. Mamza also expressed concern with the children kept out of the school system, “due to the government's failure in most cases to provide an alternative schooling environment for them."
Speaking to the Daily Times, the headmaster of the school, Peter A. Banu, praised the NHRC noting that the commission’s intervention helped to improve student enrollment from 570 to above 1,000. Mr. Banu lamented the fact that the school’s 54 volunteers did not receive any financial assistance from the government, but instead lived off the assistance of NGO’s and other publicly spirited individuals.