EU supports education in Boko-Haram hit region of Nigeria

Over 150,000 children and 2,500 teachers in the Borno State of Nigeria, located in the northeast of the country and often hit by Boko Haram attacks, will benefit from two new European Union – funded projects.

They were launched in Maiduguri, the capital of the Borno State. Worth a total of €20 million, they will contribute to restore access to safe, inclusive and quality primary and secondary education for boys and girls and strengthen the education system.

The projects will expand and deepen the already extensive EU humanitarian and development assistance to the many victims of violence and displacement in Nigeria’s northeast while addressing some of the underlying drivers of violent extremism in Nigeria.

This support has been designed to go beyond the provision of immediate services to strengthen service quality and delivery trying to increase learning outcomes for girls and boys in the longer term.

In concrete terms, the first project, will benefit 80,000 primary and secondary pupils with improved access to quality education: 18,000 children and youth who have dropped out of education will benefit from an Accelerated Learning Programme (ALP); 12,000 young people will benefit from life skills training, and 4,300 will be receiving employability & business training. The €10 million contract has been awarded to UNICEF. It will rehabilitate classrooms, provide furniture, install or repair water points and construct latrines in primary, secondary and Tsangaya schools. Children will receive learning kits, young people will receive business start-up kits girls and young women will receive the so-called “dignity kit” to allow them to continue attending lessons while they have their period.

Teaching kits, textbooks will be provided and over 900 primary and secondary teachers will be trained. 36 schools will establish kitchen gardens and psycho-social resources will be offered to children with trauma.

The second project, also worth €10 million and awarded to Plan International, will strengthen the resilience and social inclusion of the most vulnerable communities, especially children and adolescents, supporting inclusive, quality and equitable basic education in Borno state.

Original source: European Commission
Published on 01 July 2019