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Kano, Nigeria
Hundreds of girls have refused to return to their school in northeast Nigeria because of security fears following a mass kidnapping by Boko Haram jihadists, parents and teachers said on Tuesday.
Jihadists stormed the Government Girls Technical College in Dapchi on February 19, seizing 111 schoolgirls in a carbon copy of the abduction in Chibok in 2014 that caused global outrage.
All but six of the Dapchi girls were returned to the school just over a month later. Five died in captivity while the only Christian among them is still being held.
The school re-opened on April 30 but one teacher, who asked not to be identified for fear of official sanctions, said most pupils have stayed away because they were still afraid.
"We have a total student population of 989, and out of that number only 314 have resumed after we reopened. Of the 314 that returned, 299 are writing their final examinations and will be leaving school in July," he said.
"So, technically, we can say only 15 students have resumed, who will be continuing their education here."
Bashir Manzo, who headed the abducted girls' parents association, said children were being kept at home because of a lack of security personnel.
