‘Keep away from schools or we’ll kill you’: Right to education under attack in Nigeria

Since the beginnings of 2012, at least 70 teachers and over 100 students have been killed or wounded in northern Nigeria. Educational facilities have been burned, thousands of children forced out of schools and teachers made to flee for safety. The purpose of this briefing is to draw attention to the damaging effects of this on-going violence. It calls on the Islamist armed group Boko Haram and other gunmen to immediately cease all attacks on schools; and on the Nigerian authorities to provide better protection for schools and ensure that attacks are properly investigated.

Exploitation sous prétexte d’éducation : Progrès mitigés dans la lutte contre la mendicité forcée des enfants au Sénégal

Ce rapport examine le bilan mitigé du Sénégal dans ses efforts pour résoudre ce problème au cours de l’année écoulée, depuis qu’un incendie a ravagé une école coranique installée dans une maison délabrée à Dakar, causant la mort de huit garçons. Après cet incendie, le président Macky Sall s’est engagé à prendre des mesures immédiates pour fermer les écoles où les élèves vivent dans des conditions insalubres ou sont exploités par des maîtres qui les forcent à mendier et leur infligent des punitions sévères s’ils ne parviennent pas à rapporter le quota d’argent exigé.

Exploitation in the Name of Education: Uneven Progress in Ending Forced Child Begging in Senegal

The  report examines Senegal’s mixed record in addressing the problem in the year since a fire ripped through a Quranic boarding school in Dakar housed in a makeshift shack, killing eight boys. After the fire, President Macky Sall pledged to take immediate action to close schools where boys live in unsafe conditions or are exploited by teachers, who force them to beg and inflict severe punishment when the boys fail to return a set quota of money. While important legislation has advanced, authorities have taken little concrete action to end this abuse.

Child Marriage: Malawi

The government of Malawi should increase efforts to end widespread child and forced marriage, or risk worsening poverty, illiteracy, and preventable maternal deaths in the country.
According to government statistics, half of the girls in Malawi will be married by their 18th birthday, with some as young as age 9 or 10 being forced to marry. Malawi faces many economic challenges, but the rights of girls and women, including the right to education, should not be sacrificed as a result.

Advancing Children's Rights: A Guide for Civil Society Organisations on how to engage with the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child

This Guide is intended to be a comprehensive resource for finding out more about the Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child and the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. It provides practical information for organisations wishing to engage with the Committee but also relevant background information to ensure that this engagement is put into context.

Privatisation vs the Public Good

This article explores the increasing privatisation of education. It examines various criticisms of the private provision of education and claims that privatisation is driven by an ideological agenda which is generally uncaring about any notion of the “public good” purposes of education — that is, of its role in producing social cohesion through the provision of education that is of high quality for all members of society.

Fighting Female Genital Mutilation: Girls’ Right to Education Versus Traditional Practices

Attaining primary and secondary school education for girls in Liberia remains a major challenge. Girls aged below 10 years are pulled out of formal education, by traditionalists, and forced to take part in traditional female initiation ceremonies in informal settings locally known as bush schools. As a consequence, nearly half of women in Liberia are illiterate, according to United Nations statistics.

Invisible Children: the Disability Challenge in Mozambique

In Mozambique, 14% of children between two and nine years old are disabled. They are often hidden away by their families – in effect rendered invisible – and are vulnerable to discrimination as well as an increased risk of violence. These children need greater support from their families and better access to education, which would enable them to attend school with their peers. But that can only happen if the necessary facilities, equipment and training are provided.

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