“They started shooting, shooting, shooting. They took our livestock,” she said. “They took everything and they left.” Matte Bama, a resident of her hometown Amchide, recounts the night Boko Haram raided her village, pillaging and looting everything in their path. But this sort of destruction and chaos has become the norm in a civil war-torn Nigerian countryside (Searcey).
Since March of 2014, over 900 schools have closed down in the Borno state of Nigeria, leaving thousands of Nigerian boys and girls out of school, thanks to the repeated violence and chaos caused by Boko Haram. Although dwarfed by other radical Islamic groups like ISIS and the Taliban, Boko Haram has caused mass-scale turmoil and destruction across northwest Africa, especially in Nigeria (Terror). After the infamous kidnapping of over 200 Nigerian girls in April of 2014, Boko Haram has garnered worldwide media coverage and has finally been put into the spotlight for its atrocious actions (BBC).
Boko Haram has come under severe scrutiny for its action against education, especially for girls, in Nigeria. Boko Haram loosely translates to, “western education is forbidden.” With its foundation built on strict Islamic teachings, this radical sect founded by Mohammed Yusuf had its ups and downs during its early years but turned particularly violent towards the end of Yusuf’s life and the start of his successor’s, Abubakar Shekau (UNICEF).
In recent years, many Boko Haram jihadists have targeted westernized schools in Nigeria with waves of violence, instilling fear in the many suburban communities affected by the violence. The Human Rights Watch director Zama Coursen-Neff describes the struggle as, “Boko Haram’s attacks on schools represent a new and reprehensible development since the group began its campaign of violence in 2009. Children and educational institutions should be left alone, full stop.” The conflict has led to the shutdown of thousands of schools, not only in the Borno state but nationwide. Many citizens have also begun to flee the war-torn country (GCPEA).
Apart from Boko Haram disrupting the current educational system in Nigeria, they are further creating turmoil by forcefully replacing in existing facilities their own Islamic schools. BBC reports that Yusuf had set up many religious complexes in Nigerian towns with the goal of influencing residents at a very fundamental level into following his radical Islamic sects. Through an increasing number of Islamic schools, Yusuf planned to create an Islamic state under his religious ideals, similar to ISIS. Other than these religious institutions set up by Yusuf, recent reports have indicated that Boko Haram has begun building unregulated boarding schools for young impoverished Nigerian boys. The main agenda of these “boarding schools” is to have young minds memorize Quranic verses and completely entrench them in the teachings of radical Islamic clerics (Terror).
Although endless violence has been inflicted by Boko Haram across many communities in Nigeria coupled with widespread government corruption that has destroyed infrastructure and education for several generations, all is not lost for those young children who simply want to get educated for a brighter future for their families. In many small towns in Nigeria such as Maiduguri, motivated young men and women have taken up arms to protect the youth from the terrors of Boko Haram. These so-called Civilian Joint Task Forces have armed themselves with axes and machetes to protect their communities from the violence of Boko Haram and to get their children an education (Terror). There is no doubt that the current threat of Boko Haram is very potent but with help from outside aid and internal unity, Nigeria stands a very strong possibility of redirecting itself back on the progressive path of growth and development.
Work Cited
"Boko Haram Terror Stunts Education and Economy in Northeast Nigeria." World Review. Web. 08 Mar. 2016.
"Boko Haram Violence Keeping a Million Children out of School, Says Unicef." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 22 Dec. 2015. Web. 07 Mar. 2016.
"Nigeria: Boko Haram Targeting Schools." Nigeria: Boko Haram Targeting Schools. Web. 08 Mar. 2016.
Searcey, Dionne. "Boko Haram Falls Victim to a Food Crisis It Created." The New York Times. The New York Times, 04 Mar. 2016. Web. 04 Mar. 2016.
"The Rise of Nigeria's Boko Haram." - Al Jazeera English. Web. 07 Mar. 2016.
"Who Are Nigeria's Boko Haram Islamists? - BBC News." BBC News. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Mar. 2016.
My favorite key aspect of this piece was the way you hooked in your readers, it really caught my attention and drew in my curiosity. My main take away from your article is that thousands of Nigerian boys and girls are being deprived from school because of the chaos and violence caused by Boko Haram. My follow up question would be the young men and women who have armed themselves to protect their youth, is there strategy working or helped at all?
ReplyDeleteMy favorite aspect of this article was the use of pictures. I thought they fit very well with the article, and helped me visualize the events going on. After reading your article, my main take-away was how strict the Islam culture was on its´ teachings. Do you happen to know how much of the world as a whole has been affected by Boko Haram.
ReplyDeleteMy absolute favorite aspect of this piece is how engaging it is.I really admire how alive and interactive this article is! From the visuals to the quotes and the extensive explanation on all the different issues stemming from this crisis. My main take away from this is that the youth of Nigeria is being deprived of their education due to the increasing amount of violence caused by Boko Haram. My question is, what are the schools doing about this? Why haven't they taken action on protecting these children in order for them to feel as though they don;t have to be risking there lives in order for them to learn?
ReplyDeleteMy favorite part of your article was the layout and tone of your writing, it really looked like a true, published article! Your hook was really engaging, and your article overall was very well written. What inspired you to chose this topic?
ReplyDeleteI think the layout was unique and the use of media made the article more appealing. The presentation of the information was also very fluid, and I enjoyed how the different points fit together. I would like to know what the Nigerian government has done about this issue and whether it's being combatted in the status quo.
ReplyDeleteThe way you formatted your pictures looked so natural it felt like they were a part of the words. It's stunning that people not only detest education, but go so far as to prohibit the free choice of other people to go to school. However, what has happened to people like the teachers of the school?
ReplyDelete