Burkina Faso students, displaced girls in Cameroon demand their ‘right to education’

Several hundred students demonstrated Tuesday (11 October) in a city in northern Burkina Faso to claim their “right to education,“ while hundreds of displaced girls in Cameroon have protested against the conflicts that have disrupted or halted their education.
in Djibo, the main city in northern Burkina Faso, which has been under a jihadi blockade for several months, several hundred students staged a protest, demanding their “right to education,” including the sending of teachers. The young demonstrators walked the streets of the city carrying signs that read: “We are also Burkinabè, we have the right to education,” “Education is a right for all,” “School is dotted in Djibo.“ They then gathered in front of the offices of the High Commission of the province of Soum where they were received by the prefect of Djibo, Marou Ilboudo. According to their spokesman Ali Dicko, the students asked to have teachers flown in, communication networks restored, and the city secured, among other requests. According to the National Union of Secondary and Higher Education Teachers, the current school year is marked by the closure of more than 4,258 schools throughout the country that has also been affected by a famine.
Meanwhile, in Cameroon, hundreds of displaced girls protested also on Tuesday the conflicts that have disrupted or halted their education, calling for better security so children, especially girls, can return to classrooms. Close to a million Cameroonian children have lost school time in recent years due to the separatist conflict in western regions and Boko Haram terrorism on the borders with Chad and Nigeria. Some of the demonstrators said that many girls were deprived of an education by Boko Haram militants. In some cases, the militants forcefully took the girls out of their schools, and there are also reports of the girls being raped by Boko Haram fighters, then abandoning them in camps on the border with Nigeria. The protests were scheduled to coincide with the UN International Day of the Girl Child. The day is meant to recognize girls’ rights and the challenges they face around the world.