BOKO HARAM; UNHCR ENROLS 300 ORPHANS IN BORNO PRIVATE SCHOOL
He said there are over 50,000 orphans currently under the care of the state government. He said the government was building four mega schools to cater for the orphans so that they would not be left stranded when the IDPs return home.
The Commissioner said the government was considering given one of the mega schools at the final stages of completion to Future Prowess so that the school can tackle its challenge of lack of enough space for its increasing pupil population.
A mother of one of the beneficiaries, Zara Modu, said she was pleased that the school was assisting her to educate two of her children, recalling that since she lost her husband three years ago after Boko Haram sacked their town, Bama, she found it difficult fending for them from her local cap knitting business.
The 38 years old mother of seven said, “This is a huge relief for me. Now two of my children are here and I don’t have to pay anything for their education and even their feeding. We thank Barrister Zanna for making this possible”.
Similarly, another indigent mother, Yagana Yusuf, 26 years old, confirmed one of her daughters was among the lucky 300 children admitted into the school on Sunday.
“When we fled Bama after Boko Haram had abducted and locked us up for two months, we came here with nothing except our lives. We could barely feed talk more of sending the children to school. But today my joy knows no bound that at least my little daughter has a chance to get the education which I so much craved but could not get due to the poor background of my parents. I thank the Borno state government and the UN people for the assistance.
The Head of Future Prowess School, Suleiman Aliyu, said there are over 200 orphans on the waiting list for admission into the school, but they had to take only a few of them at a time due to lack of accommodation space.
Meanwhile, the presentation was done by the Borno State Commissioner for Education, Inuwa Kubo, and the Head of the UNHCR, Quang Bui.
