62,000 Nigerian, Cameroonian children displaced, deprived of education

Over 62,000 Nigerian and Cameroonian children of school age have been denied education as the Boko Haram insurgency sparks education crisis in northern Cameroon.

According to the governor of Cameroon's Far North Region, Middjiyawa Bakari, who spoke to IRIN Nairobi, cross border attacks by Boko Haram have prevented the government from getting educational facilities to the displaced persons.

"The government and aid agencies are grappling with a complex emergency situation," Bakari said.

"Getting enough classrooms, teachers and various forms of assistance to the internally displaced children and refugees remains critical."

Quoting UN's agency for refugees (UNHCR), IRIN reports that almost half of the 62,000 internally displaced children are now out of school.

Some of the children, like fifteen-year-old Soulemanu Abba, now have to work to survive.

"It was easy for me to go school when I was in Fotocol [his village] because my parents and friends were present and we had enough money to support my education," he told IRIN.

"But since I came here, I now have to work to afford food for myself."

According to the UNHCR, there have been 18 recorded attacks by Boko Haram in northern Cameroon in 2015 alone, forcing almost 100,000 Cameroonians from their homes.

The report further states that in three of the most-affected localities; Logone and Chari, Mayo-Sava and Mayo-Tsanaga, close to the border from north-eastern Nigeria, 60 percent of schools have been abandoned, 30 percent occupied by displaced people, and 10 percent destroyed and looted.