The European Union (EU) delegation in Nigeria and ECOWAS, Ms. Montse Pantalconi has said that the union is to support the education of 20, 000 children in the Northeast. The education support project comprises the construction and renovation of classrooms funded by the EU in Borno state. Pantalconi in a statement Saturday in Maiduguri, disclosed: “We’ve implemented the children’s education support with local partners to complete construction and renovation of 116 classrooms and 53 latrines.”
She is Head of health, nutrition, resilience and human development at the EU delegation to Nigeria and the ECOWAS, According to her, the completed classrooms and latrine have been handed over to the State’s Universal Basic Education Board (UBEB). She said the facilities will support girls’ education, reduce classroom congestion, and improve access and retention of conflict-affected children in school. While lamenting on incessant attacks, she said: “Children in state are among the most conflict-affected and educationally disadvantaged in the world.
“Since 2009, over 1,400 schools have been destroyed and 2,295 teachers killed in the Northeast protracted conflict. “Attacks by armed groups on education and school facilities, the influx of internally displaced families into Maiduguri and population growth have also stretched existing school structures to the limit.” According to her, they have posed challenges of access, retention, and school completion. She noted that the education of children through a management information system will also create long term benefits.
“Education is a fundamental human right and investing in people is the most important investment any government could make for its citizens,” she declared, stating that keeping the girls longer in school will contribute to better parenthood and reduce the effects of poverty that fuels protracted insurgency. She said the newly constructed and renovated classrooms and latrines will provide relief to children in some of the most hard-to-reach areas in the state. She said COVID-19 pandemic has complicated existing challenges in access to and quality of education, even further.
