The Commissioner for Education in Benue State, Tarnongo Saawuan, has identified insecurity as the major threat to education in the state.
Saawuaan said over 30 primary and 10 secondary schools have been closed down in rural communities as a result of armed invasions.
He told our correspondent in an interview at his office in Makurdi, the state capital, that the development has pushed many children out of school.
“A situation where you sit in your home at night and people invade your community and kill at will, cannot be classified as herders/farmers clashes. They are simply terrorist and people who want to chase us out and take over our land and in so doing, majority of our schools in these local governments are under lock and key. They do not operate.
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“As much as we want majority of our Benue children to have access to education, a lot of them are out of school; go to Guma, Agatu, Gwer West, Kwande LGAs and even in Makurdi, you cannot access the schools. The schools have been down for a number of sessions, a number of years and it has affected us in Benue.
“There are over 30 primary schools that have been closed down and more than 10 secondary schools are also affected with quite a number of children going into thousands that cannot access schools in their places,” he said.
