Introducing the Safe Schools Initiative (SSI) in Nigeria

Dr Chester Shaba, is an Education Specialist and Programme Manager for UNICEF’s Safe Schools Initiative (SSI) in Nigeria. Dr Shaba is leading a team of specialists to develop a strategy to ensure the widening access to education for all internally displaced out-of-school children (OOSCs) living in host communities.

Read about the background to this program, the response from the Nigerian Government and Dr Shaba’s role. In writing this reflective article, Dr Shaba is contributing to PASCAL’s Learning Region theme, linking to the topic of education development within fragile states.

The Safe School Initiative (SSI) in Nigeria

Background

North-eastern Nigeria has witnessed an unprecedented level of insurgency from 2009 till date onward, leading to a declaration of a ‘State of Emergency’ in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States in 2013. The first four months of 2014 saw a further escalation of the humanitarian and security situation. It is projected that out of the estimated 11 million Nigerians who live in the three states under a state of emergency, up to six million have been affected by the insecurity, with four million people in Borno state alone. As many as 1,500 individuals, including women and children, were killed in the first three months of 2014. Access by people and organizations to the affected communities is becoming increasingly difficult and, as a result, the populations most affected are often not reachable.

The militant group, Boko Haram, has carried out violent attacks in the north-eastern parts of Nigeria. Thousands of Nigerians have been killed, and many more have been forced to flee their homes. Schools have been the primary target of the attacks. Since 2011, Boko Haram, whose name means ‘Western Education is Forbidden’, has expanded its attacks to the direct target of schools. It has resulted in the killing and abduction of hundreds of teachers and students and the destruction of school buildings and teaching materials. As a result of increased attacks on education, all schools in Borno State were closed from the 14th March 2014, and roughly 253,000 children were out of school in the 2013-14 school year (Borno SUBEB). By the end of 2014, Adamawa, Yobe and Borno State Universal Basic Education authorities have reported a total of 338 schools destroyed. Also, at least 196 teachers and over 314 learners killed and more than 276 learners abducted. The situation has further fuelled the perception of schools as ‘danger zones’ and threatens the gains achieved by targeted school enrolment drives in northern Nigeria.

Response by the Nigerian government and the International Community

The Safe Schools Initiative (SSI) is a response to children and schools affected by militants in the North Eastern States of Nigeria. The program was launched by the Government of Nigerian and the UN Special Envoy for Global Education, Gordon Brown, alongside with the Nigerian Global Business Coalition for Education and private sector leaders in Abuja in May 2014. 

The Safe School Initiative entails a combination of:

1. transfer of secondary students to other states
2. support to education in IDP camps
3. pilot safe schools models including community mobilization.

The initiative was initially implemented in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states, already in a declared state of emergency.

The Government of Nigeria has established a national Safe Schools Fund to accommodate capitalization from the Federal Government, Private Sector, and grants from donors. This national fund is to be complemented by the establishment of the Nigeria Safe Schools Initiative Multi-Donor Trust Fund (Nigeria SSI MDTF) also for donors for matching co-financing and implementation of activities pertaining to the initiative.

Role of PASCAL Associate Dr Chester Shaba as Programme Manager of the UNICEF-led SSI Project

UNICEF’s participation in the Safe School Initiative is at three levels: active members on the Steering Committee, the Technical Committee and technical support in the affected states. Dr Chester Shaba represents UNICEF at the Technical Committee level and is responsible for providing technical oversight on the intervention concerning access to quality education for internally displaced (ID) children. In terms of this support from UNICEF, the focus has been in two of the target states, Borno, and Adamawa.

However, a decision was taken to include the IDP camps in Gombe state in the assessment because many people have moved there from other states, especially from Borno state.

Since September 2014 Dr Shaba has been seconded to UNICEF by CANADEM to manage the UNICEF-led SSI project that is supported by the Government of Norway. He has been instrumental in establishing local structures (State Coordination Committees) and also in strengthening working relationships with local stakeholders in coordination with the Technical Committee.  Dr Shaba has ensured increased access to quality education in the most vulnerable areas of the three north-eastern states (Borno, Gombe and Adamawa) of Nigeria.

Currently, the SSI National Technical Committee has mandated UNICEF to develop a strategy for widening access to education for all internally displaced out-of-school children (OOSCs) living in host communities. Dr Shaba is leading a team of education specialists within the UNICEF’s Education Section in developing such a strategy.