Learning in fear: education systems in times of conflict and famine

• In Event: Investigating Local and National Learning Outcomes in Contexts of Inequality, Conflict, and Emergency

Proposal

For over ten years, conflict has uprooted almost three million people in North-Eastern Nigeria, and hundreds of thousands across the Lake Chad Basin region. In Nigeria, 60% of the internally displaced people are children, with one in four under the age of five. Broken families, insecurity, and non-existent (quality) education and social services are some of the acute and long-lasting deprivations these children face. As of 2022, learning in this region has been disrupted by attacks, killings and kidnappings by Boko Haram insurgents, bandits and gunmen. The proliferation of so many violent actors demonstrates the complexity of the conflict. Underscoring this, food insecurity is at a critical level, and disappearing livelihoods have resulted in chronic poverty.

This paper seeks to understand the multiplicity of fronts for violence and insecurity, where education itself, seems to be a frontline target for all groups. School and children are used and attacked on an alarming scale. It considers the experiences of children. The psychological distress and fear, which affect the trust, attention, motivation. and attendance of children (and their teachers, families and community at large) wipes away much of the progress made in changing many of the negative attitudes and norms that have prevented children (predominantly, girls) from engaging with learning opportunities. The research examines where education sits in the midst of this breakdown of social order. Even under stable conditions (before the rise of violent insurgency that have characterised the last decade), the Nigerian education sector was buckling under the strain of a growing population. Today, there are about 50 million school age children in the country – over a third are out of school, and learning outcomes are deteriorating for many who are in school.

This paper unpacks what it means for education to be key part of the humanitarian response when its contents are not considered neutral, when it is viewed as representation of a problematic status quo, and when the civic life into which these children are expected to transition has collapsed. As harsh climatic conditions and acute food insecurity trigger involuntary migration, and exacerbate societal tensions, it considers the efforts of governments, NGOs, civil society, development partners, and even the private sector in mitigating this crisis. Ultimately, this research reflects on the (constrained) choices stakeholders face in this complex social, political, and economic context.

Author

• Nafisa Waziri