PHOTOS: Chibok pupils are back in school – but there’s still one bad news

More than two years after they were forced to flee their schools by series of insurgent attacks — the scariest being the abduction of almost 300 students from the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno state — pupils of the community have now resumed school.

They have now had more than a month of uninterrupted learning.

Clearly, this is yet another milestone in the success of the ongoing war against Boko Haram. It is an exceedingly heartwarming news — but it is not yet Uhuru!

According to freelance journalist Femi Owolabi, who was at public primary schools in Chibok and shared photos from Junior Day Secondary School, “these kids have now become academically poor”.

“Some of them cannot even write their names correctly again,” Owolabi quoted one of the teachers as saying. “They’ve been out of school for years, and most of them have been on the farm with their parents.”

Now, there’s no mincing words that the work ahead is enormous; it will take years of hard work to recoup the academic losses of the pupils and attune their brains to learning . But for now, no harm in enjoying the momentary — and momentous — progress!

Photo Credit: Femi Owolabi