TheCable

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says the federal government needs to improve on efforts to rehabilitate victims of school attacks in the country.

Judith Moses, UNICEF education officer and national coordinator of education in emergencies working group, said this on Thursday when she featured as a guest on ‘Good Morning Nigeria’, a programme on the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA).

There have been several attacks on schools across the country, leading to deaths and mass abductions.

TheCable had reported that a total of 821 students have been abducted between January and August.

According to Moses, the federal government should adopt measures to ensure that learning environments are safe and more attractive for children to return after attacks.

“From the legal side, what is being done to investigate issues of attack? What is being done to prosecute? What is being done for victims? Is there anything that is being done? Do we have a robust system?” she asked.

“We need to have a robust reintegration system whereby there can be some kind of rehabilitation for those that have been affected, abducted or experienced gender-based violence to be healed and face the education system again.

“A safe school is a place that a child looks forward to going to. When you see a child saying I don’t want to go to school, and keeps on saying it, then there is something.

“When that school environment is attractive, we look at the psychosocial support, which is psychological healing. Those experiences, you may not be able to wipe them out and indeed, some children, depending on how severely they have been affected, may need to be referred to a specialist.”