Boko Haram: Borno reopens secondary schools closed for 2 years

The Borno Government said on Monday that it would re-open public secondary schools next week, two years after they were closed due to Boko Haram insurgency. The state’s Commissioner for Education, Inuwa Kubo, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Maiduguri that Internally Displayed Persons (IDPs) occupying the schools had been relocated to allow for resumption of academic activities. Mr. Kubo said that repairs had been carried out on all the structures in the schools to provide atmosphere, conducive for teaching and learning. “I wish to announce that on Sept. 26, all public schools are going to be re-opened. “I want to state that government has repaired all the structures damaged by the IDPs in the schools, to ensure comfort for the returning students. “Parents and guardians should please make sure that they send their children back to school,” he said. Mr. Kubo decried the prolonged closure of the schools and the fact that proprietors of private schools took undue advantage of the development to charge arbitrary fees. “We understand that some of them have taken undue advantage of the closure to hike school fees; we will not allow the situation to continue. “We are going to visit the schools to find out how much they are charging and how much they are paying their teachers,” he said. The schools were shut in March, 2014, after terrorists attacked a school in neighbouring Yobe. The government reopened primary schools in 2015 but could not do the same with the secondary schools because they had been taken over by IDPs. (NAN)