federal ministry adamawa state. joint education needs … · 2019. 12. 6. · eiewg nigeria joint...

Federal Ministry

of Education.

Adamawa State.

Joint Education Needs Assessment: North-East Nigeria

November 2019

EiEWG Nigeria Joint Education Needs Assessment, November 2019

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Executive Summary

Introduction and Methodology • This assessment was led by the Education in Emergencies Working Group (EiEWG) in collaboration with

partners across north-east Nigeria, in order to provide information for 2020 EiEWG strategy and

planning. Specifically, it aims to provide an overview of the education situation in selected Local

Government Areas (LGAs), with regards to school status and closure, attendance and enrolment,

inclusive education, infrastructure, teaching and learning, teachers and other education personnel, and

protection. It further aims to fill specific information gaps with regards the status and potential of closed

schools, and caregiver preferences on programming to increase attendance amongst out-of-school

children.

• The assessment used a mixed methodology, comprising a secondary data review between 16 September

and 7 October 2019, and primary data collection between 23 October and 6 November 2019. Primary

data was collected in 19 LGAs through 7 semi-structured Key Informant (KI) interviews with Education

Secretaries, 352 structured Key Informant interviews and direct observation in schools, and 20 Focus

Group Discussions with 183 caregivers of out-of-school children. Findings apply only to the situation in

LGAs assessed and cannot be generalised further to LGAs not covered (see map below).

Map 1: Assessment coverage

Borno

Yobe

Adamawa

Biu

Fune

Bama

Song

Fufore

Damboa

Toungo

Konduga

Kukawa

Tarmua

Geidam

Jada

Gujba

Mafa

Marte

Bursari

Kaga

Fika

Hong

Abadam

Magumeri

Yusufari

Jakusko

Yunusari

Gwoza

Gubio

Mobbar

Hawul

Gulani

Nganzai

Dikwa

Gombi

Demsa

Ngala

Ganaye

Guzamala

Damaturu

Shani

Askira/Uba

Monguno

Gireri

Maiha

Jere

Chibok

Bayo

Nguru

Machina

Lamurde

Michika

Karasuwa

Madagali

Kala/Balge

Shelleng

Mayo-Belwa

Numan

Guyuk

Nangere

Bade

Mubi North

Bade

Yola North

Potiskum

Kwaya Kusar

Mubi South

Maiduguri


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School Status and Closure

• Although conflict has reduced in the past couple of years in comparison to 2013-2015, it continues to

affect the ability of some schools to remain open and provide lessons. This is particularly notable in

assessed LGAs in Borno state, where 60% of the schools assessed are closed, compared to 14% in Yobe

and none in Adamawa.1 Schools in Adamawa tend to stop functioning temporarily rather than closing:

71% of schools assessed had stopped functioning at some point since 2012 due to conflict, with 40%

having stopped functioning in the past year. Disruption over the past year has been less extreme in Yobe

and Borno, where 9% of schools stopped functioning at some point.

Access and Learning Environment: Enrolment and Attendance

• Across all states, around a quarter of schools were unable to enrol children in the 2018-2019, typically

due either to overcrowding or refusing to enrol children unable to pay for school levies or uniforms. This

was particularly problematic in Yobe, where 39% of schools reported being unable to enrol some

children. There are no known referral mechanisms operating to assist children who have been unable to

enrol in schools.

• Certain profiles of children face greater barriers to accessing education, which the ongoing efforts to

increase enrolment and attendance of children in north-east Nigeria should consider. Enrolment of girls

tends to decrease in comparison to boys at the JSS level, whilst children from lower-income families are

often unable to afford education-related costs (both materials and school levies) or are required to work

to supplement their family income. Analysis of attendance barriers indicates a need to focus on

integrating education programming with livelihoods and protection, to enable families to be able to

afford to send their children to school, as well as reduce the prevalence of children working and early

marriage.

Access and Learning Environment: Inclusive Education and Out-of-School Children

• A further area of concern is the lack of education opportunities and school adaptation for children with disabilities. Although there are a few dedicated schools for children with special needs, these are not widespread and accessible outside larger cities. Within non-specialised schools, just 14% reported having additional provisions for children with disabilities, despite a majority (68%) teaching at least one child with special needs.

• In terms of increasing enrolment and attendance, caregivers of out-of-school children emphasised a preference for material and financial support, in particular provision of uniforms, learning materials, payment of school levies and snacks or food. Additionally, participants reported a high demand for technical and vocational trainings, both for themselves but also for their older children or youth, particularly for those who may have missed school.

Access and Learning Environment: School Infrastructure

• The severe impacts of conflict on school infrastructure in north-east Nigeria have been documented in previous assessments. Although the level of functionality of classrooms appears to have improved slightly since the 2017 JENA, the situation of WASH facilities in schools is still particularly dire. This has a negative impact on school attendance: insufficient WASH facilities in schools was reported as a main barrier to attendance for both boys and girls (19% of KIs and 18% of KIs respectively).

1 Based on school lists from the Education Management Information System (EMIS) Nigeria.


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Teaching and Learning

• Although the majority of schools reported that teachers generally had textbooks for all subjects or at least core subjects, children’s access to teaching and learning materials as more limited. In Yobe state, children in just 24% of schools had access to sufficient learning material, with even lower proportions in Borno (14%) and Adamawa (10%). School furniture was reported as a further gap, with just 33% of schools in Borno having adequate furniture (chairs, desks, mats), 24% in Yobe and 20% in Adamawa.

• It is also worth noting that although English was used to teach in 94% of schools, it was only spoken by children as a most common language in 25% of schools. Around half of schools (47%) reported that some teachers face difficulties communicating with children due to language issues, usually affecting around a quarter of teachers in each school. A larger proportion of schools (62%) reported that children face challenges with learning due to language barriers, mostly commonly affecting around a quarter or a half of children.

Teachers and Other Education Personnel • In terms of teacher qualifications, only 39% of schools report having all or almost all of their teachers

with the minimum level of teaching qualification. 24% of schools, almost 1 out of every 4, report having half or less of their teacher workforce as having the minimum required teaching qualification. The large numbers of teachers working in schools is not surprising when considering the high percentage of the teacher workforce that is comprised of volunteer teachers (27%).

• Overall average student-to-teacher ratio is quite high when considering only registered teachers (1:55), especially in Yobe (1:69) and Borno (1:60). This drops significantly when the volunteer workforce is calculated as part of the ratio, with an overall average of 1:39.

• While conflict-related factors are certainly present (e.g. insecurity 10%, displacement 8%) the most cited reasons why teachers do no regularly go to work is due to illness/sickness (26%), pregnancy/maternity leave (26%), low/poor salary (23%) and distance to school (23%). Given these findings, it may be important to explore education interventions pertaining to salaries, healthcare and transportation rather than strict ‘education in emergencies’ interventions.

• Only 22% of schools reported that all their teachers have access to psychosocial support (PSS) services. Education in emergencies often considers the psychosocial needs of the children and learners; however, it is crucial not to overlook the psychosocial needs of the teachers as well who can also be exposed to traumatic and challenging experienced caused by the crisis.

Protection • The biggest safety risks reported for children were not directly conflict-related: “Crossing rivers/flooding”

(22%) and “Heavy traffic/Crossing roads” (21%). Only 3% of KIs mentioned “Conflict insecurity” – although conflict-related insecurities, such as “Passing checkpoints” (12%) and “Mines/UXOs” (8%), did receive a slightly higher percentage of responses. Indeed, the vast majority (88%) of the schools surveyed report that children feel safe travelling to and from school as well as while attending classes.

• In terms of attacks on education, the most common types of attack reported were schools being hit by bullets, shells or shrapnel (26% at least once) and schools being robbed or looted (24% at least once). It is worth noting that in highly unsafe areas, schools are more likely to be closed and were not included in this assessment.

Recommendations The Recommendations section at the end of this report outlines suggested priority actions for relevant key stakeholders.


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Contents Executive Summary .............................................................................................................................................. 2

Acronyms ............................................................................................................................................................. 6

Geographical Classifications................................................................................................................................. 6

1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................................. 7

2. Methodology ............................................................................................................................................... 8

2.1. Overview ............................................................................................................................................ 8

2.2. Secondary data review ....................................................................................................................... 8

2.3. Primary data collection ....................................................................................................................... 9

2.4. Limitations and assumptions ............................................................................................................ 12

2.5. Methodological recommendations for further assessment ............................................................. 12

3. Findings ...................................................................................................................................................... 14

3.1. School Status and Closure ................................................................................................................ 14

3.2. Access and Learning Environment: Enrolment and Attendance ...................................................... 16

3.3. Access and learning environment: Inclusive education and out of school children ......................... 21

3.4. Access and Learning Environment: School Infrastructure ................................................................ 24

3.5. Teaching and learning ...................................................................................................................... 30

3.6. Teachers and other education personnel ......................................................................................... 34

3.7. Protection ......................................................................................................................................... 40

4. Recommendations and conclusion ............................................................................................................ 43

Annexes ............................................................................................................................................................. 46

Annex 1: List of participating organisations ................................................................................................... 46

Annex 2: Attendance barriers ........................................................................................................................ 46

Annex 3: Drinking water sources ................................................................................................................... 48

Annex 4: Languages spoken ........................................................................................................................... 48


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Acronyms

ALP Accelerated Learning Programme

AWG Assessment Working Group

CCCM Camp Coordination and Camp Management

CFS Child Friendly Space

DTM Displacement Tracking Mechanism

ECCD Early Childhood Care and Development

EiEWG Education in Emergencies Working Group

EMIS Education Management Information System

FGD Focus Group Discussion

HNO Humanitarian Needs Overview

IDP Internally Displaced Person

INEE Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergency

JENA Joint Education Needs Assessment

JSS Junior Secondary School

KI Key Informant

LGA Local Government Area

MSNA Multi Sector Needs Assessment

NGO Non-Government Organisation

PTA Parent-Teacher Association

SMBC School Based Management Committee

SDR Secondary Data Review

SSS Senior Secondary School

SUBEB State Universal Basic Education Board

UN United Nations

WASH Water, Sanitation and Hygiene

Geographical Classifications

Ward Administrative level 3

LGA Administrative level 2

State Administrative level 1


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1. Introduction

For the past ten years, Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states in north-east Nigeria have been impacted by civil armed conflict, with the Government declaring a State of Emergency in May 2013. While the intensity of conflict has reduced in the past few years in comparison to 2013-2015, the security situation is fluid and certain areas remain inaccessible or hard-to-reach. Since the beginning of the crisis, the education sector has suffered from extreme levels of violence. Children and teachers have been killed, abducted and displaced, and school facilities attacked, occupied and closed. According to the 2019 Humanitarian Response Plan for Nigeria, more than 2.2 million children are in urgent need of education services, including an estimated 990,000 displaced children.

The education response is led by the Nigerian government, whilst humanitarian actors complement this through additional targeted education programming. Efforts are coordinated by the Education in Emergencies Working Group (EIEWG), which is led by SUBEB and co-led by UNICEF and Save the Children. Through this group, an Assessment Working Group (AWG) was established to lead an assessment and review existing information available on the education situation across north-east Nigeria. The review indicated that there have been no comprehensive education-specific needs assessments since the 2017 Joint Education Needs Assessment, with later assessments typically covering small areas and resulting in a lack of updated, comparable and in-depth information. As such, in order to provide information for the 2020 EiEWG strategy and planning, this Joint Education Needs Assessment (JENA) was led by the State Ministry of Education through SUBEB and the EiEWG, conducted in collaboration with EiEWG partners across north-east Nigeria. The assessment aims to provide an overview of the education situation in selected Local Government Areas (LGAs), with regards to school status and closure, attendance and enrolment, inclusive education, infrastructure, teaching and learning, teachers and other education personnel, and protection. It further aims to fill specific information gaps identified, including improving existing quantitative information on the status and potential capacity of currently closed schools, and obtaining qualitative information from caregivers on their preferences on programming to increase attendance amongst out-of-school children. This should enable prioritisation of geographic response as well as provide recommendations to inform strategic decisions. This report first describes and explains the methodology used, then outlines the main assessment findings, presented according to the relevant core education domains laid out in the Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergency (INEE) Minimum Standards for Education: access and learning environment, teaching and learning, teachers and other education personnel2, with a separate section dedicated to protection. Finally, the conclusion synthesizes key issues and outlines recommendations for the Ministry of Education, the EiEWG and EiEWG members.

2 Community participation was not included in the scope of this assessment.


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2. Methodology

2.1. Overview

The assessment consisted of a secondary data review (SDR) which took place between 16 September and 7 October 2019, followed by primary data collection between 23 October 2019 and 6 November 2019. Primary data was collected using a mixed methodology approach comprising three components. Data was collected in 19 Local Government Areas (LGAs) within Borno, Adamawa and Yobe with the highest numbers of people in need, excluding inaccessible LGAs. Firstly, seven semi-structured Key Informant (KI) interviews were conducted with Education Secretaries in the selected LGAs, to provide an overview of education-related gaps and needs as well as specific information on closed schools. Secondly, a representative sample of Key Informant (KI) structured interviews and direct observations was conducted in 352 schools across the LGAs. KIs were primarily headteachers, or where headteachers were unavailable, deputy headteachers, teachers or education supervisors. Finally, 20 Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) were conducted in 13 of the selected LGAs with 183 caregivers of out-of-school children, to gain their perspectives on how children can be encouraged or assisted to go to school.

Map 2: Assessment coverage and number of surveys in each LGA

2.2. Secondary data review

The secondary data review aimed to summarise existing data and identify key information needs. Between 16 September and 7 October 2019, a team of nine, including an SDR team lead, divided and reviewed 38 relevant sources. Sources were compiled through a combination of identifying publicly available data and reports, as well as non-public sources from EiEWG members in Nigeria. This included multi-sector and education-specific assessment reports, situation reports, datasets, briefs, trip and mission reports, primarily from UN agencies, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and the Nigerian Government. Data was consolidated, cleaned and analysed


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using the INEE Minimum Standards Domains with the addition of a separate category for protection. Full results are available in a separate report.

2.3. Primary data collection

Primary data collection aimed to provide an overview of the education situation in selected LGAs, as well as fill specific information gaps identified during the secondary data review. Coverage was determined through identifying the LGAs in Yobe, Borno and Adamawa states with the highest number of people in need according to calculations conducted for the Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO) 2020. Due to the higher prevalence of people in need in Borno state, the 11 LGAs with the highest number of people were in need were selected, whilst four LGAs were taken from each of Yobe and Adamawa. LGAs which were not accessible were excluded from selection.

2.3.1 KI Interviews with LGA Education Secretaries Between 22 and 30 October 2019, EiE Assessment Working Group members conducted semi-structured Key Informant interviews with the Education Secretaries in seven of the assessed LGAs in Borno and Yobe (all male interviewees in Yola South, Madagali, Bama, Dikwa, Konduga, Maiduguri and Jere). The initial aim was to conduct interviews with Education Secretaries in all 19 assessed LGAs; however, due to operational and time constraints this was not possible. During the interviews, using Education Management Information System (EMIS) school lists as a starting point, Education Secretaries were asked to identify which schools in their Local Government Area (LGA) were open and which were closed, as well as list any schools which were not on EMIS lists. For each closed school, they were asked to provide key details including reasons for closure, potential ability to reopen, and support required. Separately, they were asked to identify overall education-related needs, gaps and challenges across the LGA. Findings will be used to update internal EiEWG school lists, as well as identify locations in which further information is needed.

2.3.2 KI interviews and direct observation in schools This component of the assessment consisted of a simple random sample of all schools within selected LGAs, using EMIS schools lists as the sample frame. The sample design aimed to produce school-level data generalisable with a 95% confidence level and 10% margin of error at the state level. Further, as much of the response and EiEWG partner activity is concentrated within Borno state, the sample was designed to produce results generalisable at the LGA level for all LGAs assessed in Borno. During data collection, it was not possible to collect the full sample in certain LGAs due to operational difficulties, so results in these LGAs are indicative rather than representative.3 The sample further aimed to produce generalisable results for learning centres within camps. Displacement Tracking Mechanism (DTM) data was used to identify camps in which learning centres or schools were functioning, and a representative sample was drawn from this list. However, due to the fluidity of the situation within many of these locations, partners found that in a large number of selected camps, the learning centres or schools were not functioning or not possible to locate when they visited to conduct the assessment. As a result, where results are disaggregated between out-of-camp schools and camp learning centres, findings for camp learning centres should be considered indicative rather than representative. Prior to data collection, 12 EiEWG partners with known capacity in the selected LGAs were identified and requested to take part in the assessment. They were provided with a one-day training, conducted on 22 October 2019. During this training, partners were given randomly generated lists of schools and learning centres in camps to assess within their designated LGAs. Where schools were inaccessible due to safety and security issues, or where schools were not providing lessons, partners reported this and were provided with randomly selected

3 Bama, Damboa, Gwoza and Jere LGAs.


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replacement schools to assess.4 It should be noted that results cannot be generalised to inaccessible schools in the selected LGAs, which may have more severe conditions compared to accessible schools.

Table 1: Detailed school KI sample breakdown

State / LGA Camp learning

centres Schools Total Adamawa 1 86 87

Madagali 19 19 Michika 26 26 Numan 19 19 Yola South 1 22 23

Borno 21 177 198

Bama 1 7 8 Biu 1 48 49 Damboa 13 13 Dikwa 5 5 Gwoza 1 10 11 Jere 5 24 29 Konduga 3 16 19 Magumeri 4 4 Maiduguri 5 34 39 Monguno 3 7 10 Ngala 2 9 11

Yobe 67 67

Bade 18 18 Damaturu 15 15 Gujba 9 9 Potiskum 25 25

Total 22 330 352

Data was collected between 23 October and 6 November 2019, from 352 schools across the 19 selected LGAs. Partner enumerators aimed to conduct interviews with headteachers, and where headteachers were not available, with deputy headteachers or teachers with high levels of knowledge of the school, and in a few cases, education supervisors, camp chairs and School Based Management Committee (SBMC) chairs. In total, 68 females (19%) and 284 males (81%) were interviewed. Following the interview, enumerators also conducted direct observation of school infrastructure and teaching and learning materials. Informed consent was sought and received from individual staff members prior to conducting interviews, and all partners were obliged to comply with a Code of Conduct.

Table 2: School KI respondent profile and sex

State

Headteacher Deputy

headteacher

School teacher Other Male Female

Adamawa 51 14 18 4 64 23

Borno 141 42 13 2 158 40

Yobe 53 13 1 0 62 5

Total 245 69 32 6 284 68

4 It was not possible to do the same for learning centres in camps, due to a lack of updated information on whether learning centres were functioning or not within camps, as well as operational difficulties accessing certain locations.


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During the interviews, partner enumerators entered data directly onto smartphones using the Kobo Collect mobile application. At the end of each day, enumerators uploaded completed surveys to a central server, which assessment teams downloaded regularly to check the sample and complete a set of pre-established data cleaning procedures. Once data collection was finalised, assessment teams conducted a final round of data cleaning, aiming to identify and follow-up on any potential errors as well as explain any unusual results. This included removing any identifying data, checking outliers, correct categorisation of ‘other’ responses where appropriate, and identification and removal/replacement of incomplete or inaccurate records. All changes were documented in a data cleaning log available upon request. Finally, although the sample was not stratified at the school level, sufficient surveys were conducted to provide generalisable results for primary and junior secondary school (JSS) school levels with a 95% confidence level and 10% margin of error, though not for senior secondary schools (SSS) or early childhood care and development (ECCD) levels. As such, when figures are disaggregated by school level throughout the report, results for SSS and early childhood schools should be treated as indicative only.

Table 3: Education levels provided at assessed schools

State

Early childhood

and primary Primary

Mix (early

childhood,

primary JSS) JSS

JSS and

SSS or

SSS only

Adamawa 14 46 1 22 4

Borno 31 96 8 59 4

Yobe 7 47 0 12 1

Total 51 189 9 93 9

2.3.3 Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) Between 24 October and 5 November 2019, EiEWG partners conducted a total of 20 FGDs with caregivers of out-of-school children (183 participants total, 85 male and 98 female) in 13 different LGAs. Half were conducted in camps, and half in host communities. Caregivers were identified by partners in advance of the FGDs, either through existing contacts or through community mobilisation channels. Selection criteria was that participants must be the primary caregivers of at least one child not enrolled in school at the time of the discussion. Participants were primarily mothers or fathers (79%), as well as some grandparents, aunts/uncles, cousins and brothers. 67 of the 183 participants were non-displaced (37%), whilst the remainder had been displaced at least once. Where possible, FGDs were conducted with females only or males only. This was not possible in some locations, as detailed in the table below. Each FGD consisted of 5-11 participants. FGDs were conducted in teams of two, with one facilitator and one scribe. During the FGD, the scribe took detailed notes whilst the facilitator led the discussion. Following completion, partners typed and sent all notes to the assessment team. Scripts were then reviewed for clarity and accuracy, with any points of contention confirmed with partner enumerators.


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Table 4: FGD participant breakdown

State

# male

only

FGDs

# female

only

FGDs

#

mixed

FGDs

Total male

participants

Total female

participants

Average #

children per

participant

Average # out-

of-school

children per

participant

Adamawa 1 1 7 13 4.8 3.3

Borno 3 6 5 50 72 4.9 3.0

Yobe 1 3 28 13 7.5 5.0

Total 4 7 9 85 98 5.4 3.3

2.4. Limitations and assumptions

The following challenges impeded data collection and/or analysis:

• Sampling: as detailed above, a simple random sample was drawn from EMIS school lists, with the aim to produce representative results in all selected LGAs in Borno (with representative results for Adamawa and Yobe states only). However, in some LGAs, partners faced operational challenges accessing all targeted schools in the data collection time frame, due to difficulties organising transport or finding staff to assess certain locations. As such, in four LGAs in Borno (Jere, Dikwa, Damboa and Gwoza), results are indicative rather than representative.

• Camp assessments: as detailed above, a simple random sample was drawn from DTM data, with the aim to produce representative results for learning centres in camps. However, due to the fluidity of the situation within many of these locations, partners found that in a large number of selected camps, the learning centres or schools were not functioning or not possible to locate when they visited to conduct the assessment. As a result, findings for camp learning centres should be considered indicative rather than representative.

• Coverage and accessibility: initial targeted coverage was limited to which had already been defined as having large numbers of people in need. It was not possible to cover all affected areas in north-east Nigeria due to resource constraints. Further, it was not possible to cover inaccessible locations, where the education situation may be worse.

• Lack of child participation: due to resource constraints, it was not possible to interview children for this assessment. Child participation would increase the depth and quality of information gathered, however, it requires significant child protection expertise which was not available comprehensively across all areas covered in the assessment.

• Lack of inclusion of informal education facilities: some informal education facilities – often Islamic schools – were not included on the EMIS database, and as such were not included in the assessment.

2.5. Methodological recommendations for further assessment

If data is required from another LGA, which either becomes accessible or a priority to assess for any reason, it is recommended to use the same set of tools (tweaked for lessons learned) as used for this assessment. This includes both the sampling technique and the questionnaires, so that findings can be compared (noting that full comparability will not be possible due to different assessment dates).


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Further, as noted in the limitations, child participation was not possible in this assessment. Follow-up assessments could aim to determine if the key priorities identified in this report, both for increasing school attendance and improving education provision in general within affected areas, align with the key priorities of children themselves. Finally, it is recommended that assessments in the near future focus on gathering more in-depth information on the key issues highlighted in this report, which could provide more detailed information for specific programmes. For example, thematic assessments could cover access to education facilities for children with disabilities, best practices for WASH in schools, and the status and situation of learning centres in camps and sites.


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3. Findings

3.1. School Status and Closure

Conflict continues to affect the ability of schools to remain open and provide lessons across north-east Nigeria. According to EMIS data, a majority of schools within assessed LGAs in Borno state are closed (60%), indicating a potential supply issue. Closure is less severe in Yobe (14% of schools closed), and there are no schools recorded as closed in Adamawa (0%). However, provision of education has still been severely affected in Adamawa: 71% of schools assessed had stopped functioning at some point since 2012 due to conflict, with 40% having stopped functioning in the past year. Similarly, disruption has been high in both Yobe and Borno, with 68% and 43% of schools having stopped functioning at some point.

3.1.1 School Closure Analysis of EMIS (Education Management Information System) data shows that school closure is most severe in the LGAs assessed in Borno state, where 60% of schools are recorded as being closed, compared to 14% of schools in assessed LGAs in Yobe, and 0% in assessed LGAs in Adamawa. Within Borno, in almost all LGAs assessed (with the exception of Biu, Jere and Maiduguri), over 75% of schools are closed. In some cases, schools have been relocated to share infrastructure with others, though this has not been fully and comprehensively recorded in EMIS data.

Table 5: School closure as recorded in EMIS

State name LGA name

No. closed

Schools

No. open

Schools

% Schools

Closed

Adamawa Madagali 0 173 0%

Adamawa Michika 0 238 0%

Adamawa Numan 0 151 0%

Adamawa Yola South 0 198 0%

Adamawa Total 0 760 0%

Borno Bama 93 19 83%

Borno Biu 0 104 0%

Borno Damboa 102 25 80%

Borno Dikwa 38 5 88%

Borno Gwoza 94 25 79%

Borno Jere 31 47 40%

Borno Konduga 71 18 80%

Borno Magumeri 22 4 85%

Borno Maiduguri 0 85 0%

Borno Monguno 48 7 87%

Borno Ngala 29 9 76%

Borno Total 528 348 60%

Yobe Bade 0 80 0%

Yobe Damaturu 11 63 15%

Yobe Gujba 38 42 48%

Yobe Potiskum 0 118 0%

Yobe Total 49 303 14%

OVERALL TOTAL 577 1411 29%


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5 IOM DTM, Nigeria Displacement Report 28, August 2019. 6 For the purposes of this assessment, not functioning was defined as not providing lessons.

In certain LGAs in Adamawa and Borno (Yola South, Madagali, Bama, Dikwa, Konduga, Maiduguri and Jere), Education Secretaries were interviewed about the presence and status of closed schools, using EMIS data as a starting point. Typically, schools in these locations had been closed since 2014, with a larger number of schools closed in Borno compared to Adamawa. In all LGAs assessed, schools were closed due to insecurity in or around the school, though in a few locations schools had been directly attacked and deliberately damaged. Education Secretaries reported that the neighbourhoods surrounding closed schools are not safe for children to access, due to the risk of being caught in armed conflict. This indicates that in order to manage high caseloads, focusing on increasing the capacity of open schools is essential.

Learning Centres in Camps and Sites DTM Round 28 showed that within the LGAs covered in the JENA there were 251 camps and sites present in July 2019, of which 74 sites had on-site education facilities.5 However, there were no details on whether these facilities were informal or formal, and some were not possible to locate during data collection. Future data collection efforts can aim to consolidate the status of learning centres in sites, as well as on attendance and enrolment rates within these learning centres.

Table 6: Number of sites in assessed LGAs with on-site education facilities (DTM Round 28)

State

Sites in

assessed LGAs

Sites with on-site

education facilities

Adamawa 7 4

Borno 228 62

Yobe 16 8

Total 251 74

During the JENA, 22 education facilities were assessed within camps (21 in Borno, 1 in Adamawa). Twelve were managed by the government, 7 by NGOs and 2 were unsure. 18 facilities followed the formal government curriculum, whilst 2 followed ALP or catch-up programmes, and 1 was not sure. It is apparent that education facilities for IDPs in sites are lacking, with a low proportion of on-site facilities, and at least a third of these managed by NGOs.

3.1.2 School Disruption The majority of schools assessed in Adamawa and Borno states had stopped functioning6 at some point since 2012 due to the emergency (71% and 68% respectively), as had 43% of schools in Yobe. Although schools in Adamawa state were most likely to have stopped functioning during the 2018-2019 school year (40%), these schools were closed for an average of four weeks, whilst the average 2018-2019 closure was 16 weeks in Borno and 23 weeks in Yobe. In Borno, this was largely due to closure in Dikwa (40% of schools closed for an average of 36 weeks), Maiduguri (8% of schools closed for an average of 32 weeks), Gwoza (18% of schools closed for an average of 19 weeks), Konduga (16% of schools closed for an average of 19 weeks) and Magumeri LGAs (50% of schools closed for an average of 15 weeks), whilst in Yobe, this was due to long periods of average closure in Bade (36 weeks) and Damaturu LGAs (20 weeks).

https://www.globaldtm.info/nigeria-displacement-report-28-august-2019/


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7 As detailed in the methodology, figures for SSS and early childhood levels should be treated as indicative only. In particular, these SSS level figures may be skewed by the specific schools assessed.

Figure 1: % of schools that have stopped functioning at some point since 2012, per state

3.2. Access and Learning Environment: Enrolment and Attendance Education access in north-east Nigeria faces issues of both supply and demand. Across all states, around a quarter of schools were unable to enrol children in the 2018-2019 school year, typically due either to overcrowding or refusing to enrol children unable to pay for school levies or uniforms. Certain profiles of children face greater barriers to accessing education, which the ongoing efforts to increase enrolment and attendance of children in north-east Nigeria should consider. Enrolment of girls tends to decrease in comparison to boys at the JSS level, largely due to dropping out to marry, whilst children from lower-income families are often unable to afford education-related costs (both materials and school levies) or are required to work to supplement their family income. This indicates a need to focus on integrating education programming with livelihoods and protection, to enable families to be able to afford to send their children to school, as well as reduce the prevalence of children working and early marriage.

3.2.1 Enrolment The majority of KIs (85%) were able to give official registration figures for enrolment, whilst 14% gave their best guess or approximation and 1% were not sure. Enrolment figures show that school size varies largely both within and between states, with 6 schools assessed in Borno and Yobe having more than 7,000 children enrolled, whilst 4 schools in Adamawa had fewer than 50 children enrolled. Although girls marginally outnumber boys at the early childhood and primary school levels (comprising 54% and 52% of total enrolment respectively), this pattern reverses at JSS and SSS levels. By JSS level, girls comprise 48% of children enrolled, which indicatively drops much further at SSS level.7 During the joint analysis phase, partners indicated that girls are more likely to drop out in order to get married. Further, it was noted that the response typically focuses on enrolment rates at the primary rather than JSS or SSS levels.

40%

9%

9%

31%

59%

34%

28%

32%

57%

1%Adamawa

Borno

Yobe

Stopped functioning in the past year

Stopped functioning at some point since 2012

Hasn't stopped functioning

Not sure


17

8 As detailed in the methodology, figures for SSS and early childhood levels should be treated as indicative only. 9 The sample was not designed to be representative at the school level. As such, no Senior Secondary Schools with girls in Yobe were assessed.

Table 7: Average number of boys and girls enrolled per school in each school leve (school size)l8

Early childcare Primary JSS SSS

Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys

Adamawa 66 54 184 170 131 159 227 271

Borno 252 212 905 824 373 377 199 557

Yobe 79 84 675 673 356 507 -9 3165

Total 182 155 680 633 311 337 190 703

Overall, 26% of schools across all three states reported that in the 2018-2019 school year, they were unable to enrol some children. This is typically due to overcrowding in schools, as well as refusing to enrol children who cannot pay for school uniforms or PTA (parent-teacher association) levies. Inability to enrol children was highest in Yobe (39% of schools), followed by Borno (23%) and Adamawa (22%). In Yobe, partners reported that recent unrest has caused displacement of rural populations to urban settings, with schools lacking capacity to absorb the additional caseloads. There are no known referral mechanisms operating to assist children who have been unable to enrol in schools.

Map 3: % of schools unable to enroll some children in 2018-2019 per state / LGA

Borno

Yobe

Adamawa

Biu

Bama

Damboa

Konduga

Gujba

Magumeri

Gwoza

Dikwa

Ngala

Damaturu

Monguno

Jere

Michika

Numan

Madagali

Bade

Bade

Potiskum

Maiduguri

Yola South


18

10 ACAPs and EiEWG Nigeria, Nigeria Joint Education Needs Assessment, November 2017. 11 Note that findings are not directly comparable with the JENA, due to differences in methodology and coverage. 12 REACH, Nigeria Multi-Sector Needs Assessment (MSNA), September 2018; education findings for Borno, Adamawa and Yobe, data

was collected in June-August 2018. EiEWGN, 2019 Humanitarian Need Overview Briefing, September 2018.

3.2.2 Attendance Regardless of enrolment rates, school attendance remains concerning. Only 16% of KIs reported that all or almost all children attend school every day, with the majority reporting that around three quarters of children attend regularly. Attendance seems to be lower amongst boys, with 26% of KIs reporting that only around a half or quarter of boys attend school every day, compared to 22% reporting the same for girls. Reported attendance was lowest in Adamawa: 70% of KIs reported that between three quarters and all girls attended regularly, compared to 75% in Yobe and 80% in Borno, whilst just 63% of KIs reported that between three quarters and all boys attended regularly, compared to 75% in Borno and 76% in Yobe. Partners indicated that lower rates in Adamawa are likely to be due to children working on farms instead of going to school, particularly during the rainy season.

Figure 2: % of schools with children attending school regularly (every day per week)

3.2.3 Trends in enrolment and attendance rates The 2017 JENA found that enrolment levels in 66% of assessed schools had increased since the beginning of the crisis (given as 2012 during the assessment).10 However, enrolment and attendance rates have not been collected consistently and comparably in the past two years, so it is difficult to determine whether the situation has improved since then. Information from the 2018 multi-sector needs assessment (MSNA) conducted by REACH indicates that attendance and enrolment rates vary significantly between host and IDP populations, as well as between states.11 Amongst non-displaced populations and returnees, households in Adamawa were more likely than elsewhere to have at least one child out of school. However, IDP households in Yobe were more likely than elsewhere to have a child out of school. Households in Borno states reported the lowest rates of children out of school across all population groups.

Table 8: Percentage of children attending school in 2018 (MSNA)12

5-9 years 10-14 years

15-19 years

Adamawa 46% 42% 9%

Borno 43% 43% 17%

Yobe 48% 39% 4%

16%

16%

61%

56%

15%

19%

7%

7%

2%

3%

Girls

Boys

All or almost all Around three quarters Around half

Around a quarter None

https://www.impact-repository.org/document/reach/04176730/reach_nga_msna_sector_factsheet_education_borno_september2018.pdf

https://www.impact-repository.org/document/reach/3646c2f1/reach_nga_msna_sector_factsheet_education_adamawa_september2018.pdf

https://www.impact-repository.org/document/reach/0ba2c2c8/reach_nga_msna_sector_factsheet_education_yobe_september2018.pdf

https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/05082018_nga_education_sector_2019_hno_north_east.pdf


19

3.2.4 Barriers to attendance Overall, analysis of attendance barriers indicates a need to focus on integrating education programming with livelihoods and protection, to enable families to be able to afford to send their children to school, as well as reduce the prevalence of children working and early marriage. This is largely due to deep-rooted economic and cultural issues, exacerbated by conflict-related factors in certain LGAs. See Annex 2 for a full breakdown of reported barriers across states and LGAs. Marriage was the most commonly reported barrier to attendance for girls (34% of KIs). This was more prevalent in Borno (39% of KIs) and Adamawa (33% of KIs), compared to Yobe (19% of KIs). During FGDs, a minority of participants reported the belief that education is not a legal requirement for girls, or that culturally, it is not necessary. Others stated that girls were unlikely to obtain jobs afterwards so education was pointless. Further, marriage is often seen as a coping mechanism to deal with poverty, as it reduces the number of mouths to feed in a family.

“Educating a girl is a waste of resources, as she marries and goes to another person’s house, so contributes nothing to the family and may as well hawk instead of going to school” – Male FGD

participant, Bade LGA (Yobe state)

Despite education being provided free of charge by the Nigerian government up to JSS level, the other most commonly reported barriers to attendance for both boys and girls were related to financial constraints and the closely related issue of children working. Direct financial constraints included being unable to afford education materials (37% of KIs reporting as a barrier for boys, 34% for girls), and to a lesser extent, being unable to pay the dues, levies or charges administered by schools (21% for boys, 20% for girls). Between states, financial barriers appear to vary. Being unable to afford fees/levies was reported by 40% of KIs in Adamawa compared to 13% in Borno and Yobe. Additionally, children working or looking for work was reported as a barrier for boys by 36% of KIs, and for girls by 32% of KIs, whilst planting during the harvest season was reported as a barrier for boys by 35% of KIs and for girls by 19% of KIs. Children typically work due to a need to contribute to their family income, and the impact of poverty on school attendance was emphasised by FGD participants, who noted the opportunity cost of sending children to school rather than having them hawking, working or begging. There was a higher prevalence of KIs reporting girls working as a barrier in Yobe (46% of KIs) and Borno (33% of KIs) compared to Adamawa (18% of KIs), whilst for boys, working was reported as a barrier equally in Yobe and Borno (39% of KIs), with slightly lower prevalence in Adamawa (29%). While this assessment did not explore the issue directly, documented reports on the crisis in North-East Nigeria have highlighted the relationship between lack of economic opportunities and education advancement with increased risk of recruitment of young people, especially boys, as an armed actor and thus a driver of ongoing conflict. This issue should be explored futher.

“As we are IDPs here, it is very difficult to earn money to buy food and we don’t have farms to harvest food. Most of the time food distributions are not regular and so we have to send our female children

hawking, begging for money and food so that we can eat.” – Female FGD participant, Jere LGA (Borno state)


20

13 Fewer than 3% of KIs also reported the following issues as barriers to attendance for girls: lack of awareness, language issues, lack of teaching staff, need to help in household, lack of gender segregation, pregnancy, flooding, lack of value for curriculum, joined or recruited by an armed group. Fewer than 3% of KIs also reported the following issues as barriers to attendance for boys: language issues, lack of awareness, lack of teaching staff, lack of value for curriculum, flooding, joined or recruited by an armed group, children not interested.

Figure 3: Most commonly reported barriers to attendance for boys and girls (% of KIs reporting each)13

Fees, levies and charges Basic education (primary and junior secondary school) is provided free of charge to all children by the Nigerian government. However, 61% of schools charge a fee or levy which typically covers PTA levies, school development fees, charges for registration and exams. This was more common in Adamawa (79%) compared to Borno (58%) and Yobe (49%). The average fee per school is 303 Nigerian Naira, with higher fees reported in Adamawa (438 Naira) compared to Borno (246 Naira) and Yobe (216 Naira). School feeding programmes Almost half of schools (46%) had a school feeding programme in operation, though this was more common in Adamawa (47%) and Borno (52%) compared to Yobe (25%). These were most commonly provided by the government (44%) with NGOs and other organisations operating small numbers of programmes (1%). Through these programmes, children were provided with an average of five meals provided per week. “If the children are provided/supported with petty cash daily for them to buy food or any snacks to eat in school, it will help to keep them in school to learn.” – Female FGD participant, Jere LGA (Borno state)

0%

4%

5%

5%

5%

7%

9%

10%

11%

13%

18%

19%

20%

32%

34%

34%

3%

2%

4%

3%

6%

7%

4%

10%

8%

11%

19%

35%

21%

36%

37%

7%

Peer influence

Cultural barriers

General poverty

Other

Prolonged illness

Poor school structure facilities

Lack parent support / parents don't value education

Displaced by conflict

Insecurity on the way to school or in the area

Distance to school too far

Insufficient WASH facilities in schools

Planting / harvest season

Could not pay fee / levy

Looked for / found work / hawking

Could not afford education materials

Marriage

Boys Girls


21

14 Other reasons for drop-out reported by fewer than 5% of respondents included general poverty, parents being unsupportive or not

valuing education, prolonged illness, language issues, and cultural beliefs.

3.2.5 Drop-out Overall, 47% of KIs reported that they knew how many children had dropped out of school during the 2018-2019 school year. The average number of students dropping out per school varied between states, with 28 girls and 23 boys dropping out per school in Borno, 13 girls and 19 boys in Yobe, and 8 girls and 10 boys in Adamawa. As with attendance barriers, the most commonly reported reasons for drop-out were related to financial constraints, with 30% of respondents reporting that drop-out was due to an inability to afford education materials, 21% reporting that children were looking for or had found work, and 21% reporting an inability to pay fees or levies.

Figure 4: Most commonly reported reasons for drop-out (% of KIs reporting each)14

3.3. Access and learning environment: Inclusive education and out of school children

The secondary data review conducted prior to primary data collection indicated that particular groups of children face additional barriers to accessing education: children with disabilities, children in households with low socio-economic status, displaced populations, and girls. This was corroborated by FGD participants, who also noted that children from rural areas or with nomadic upbringings, such as herders, were also less likely to attend school. Access to education for children with disabilities was highlighted as particularly problematic, with a widespread lack of adaptation in schools.

3.3.1 Children with disabilities Schools across north-east Nigeria are not typically adapted for children with disabilities, with just 14% reporting having additional provisions, despite a majority (68%) hosting at least one child with special needs. The most common provisions within schools were measures to ensure buildings are accessible (7%), measures to ensure transport is safe and accessible (4%) and adopting adapted curriculums (4%). In a few schools (1%), additional financial support was available for children with disabilities. Levels of school adaptation and attendance of children with disabilities varied between states. The majority of schools in Borno and Yobe had children with special needs (72%), whilst just over half of schools in Yobe did (55%). The average number of children with special needs per school was also higher in Borno and Adamawa (11 and 8 respectively) compared to Yobe (4). Despite lower proportions of children with disabilities in schools, more

8%

12%

13%

13%

16%

17%

21%

21%

21%

30%

Poor school structure facilities

Distance to school too far

Insufficient WASH facilities in schools

Insecurity on the way to school or in the area…

Displaced by conflict

Marriage

Pllanting / harvest season

Could not pay fee / levy

Looked for / found work or hawking

Could not afford education materials


22



schools in Yobe had additional provisions for these children (28%) compared to Adamawa and Borno (10% and 11% respectively); this is reportedly due to local government policy requiring schools to ensure that learning environments are inclusive.

Figure 5: Percentage of schools with special provisions for children with disabilities15

FGD participants reported that children with disabilities face significant challenges to accessing education services. Despite the existence of a few schools for children with disabilities, for example in Borno state, these are not available in all locations and may be difficult for children in many areas to access. Further, a few participants reported that stigma associated with disabilities also affects children’s ability to attend school.

“There are a few children in the community that have disabilities. Their chances of enrolling in school are extremely slim.” – Female FGD participant, Gwoza LGA (Borno state)

3.3.2 Displaced children Overall, 78% of schools taught some displaced students. This was more common in Borno (86%) compared to Yobe (64%) and Adamawa (69%). Further, in Borno, estimated proportions of IDPs were much higher: KIs estimated that an average of 32% of boys and 31% of girls in schools were IDPs, compared to 11% of boys and 10% of girls in Adamawa, and 10% of boys and 8% of girls in Yobe. FGD participants reported that IDPs were likely to face additional barriers to attending school. Some children have missed many years of schooling due to conflict and displacement, and often do not want to or are unable to attend lessons with much younger children. Although accelerated learning programmes (ALP) or similar catch-up programmes are available in some locations, there is a reported demand for these as well as vocational skills programmes for older children.

2%

0%

0%

1%

2%

4%

2%

1%

6%

3%

3%

6%

1%

3%

13%

Adamawa

Borno

Yobe

Transport safe and accessible Buildings accessible

Adapted curriculum Other

Additional financial support Not sure


23



Figure 6: Average proportion of displaced students per school16

3.3.3 Out of school children During FGDs, caregivers of children not attending school reported that it was not common for children to participate in learning activities outside of formal education. Around half of FGD participants stated that their out-of-school children attend Islamic classes, and within camps, some participants reported that their children attended NGO-run child friendly spaces, noting a general demand for more of these types of activities. However, the majority of participants reported that out-of-school children typically spend their days playing with other children, or helping their parents with domestic tasks and farming. The majority of FGD participants reported that they wanted their children to attend school, largely so they would have better prospects for the future, be useful members of society, and be productive during the daytime. Most stated that they preferred a combination of formal school curriculum and Islamic studies, though a few stated that they preferred Islamic studies only. Those that did not want their children to attend school stated a distrust of the curriculum in formal schools and preference for Islamic education, a need for children to support them at home or with farming, and a fear of children moving far away as a result of being educated. In general, FGD participants emphasised a preference for material and financial support to enable them to send their children to school, in particular provision of uniforms, learning materials, payment of school levies and snacks or food. Additionally, participants reported a high demand for technical and vocational trainings, both for themselves but also for their older children or youth, particularly for those who may have missed school. This includes mechanic work, tailoring and shoe making, carpentry, soap/cream making, metalwork, livestock production, business and trading. Others expressed a preference for small business grants and training, or farming equipment and inputs. Lower priorities for caregivers included rehabilitating school infrastructure and training teachers in order to motivate children to go to school, as well as increasing the use of mixed curriculums (formal and Islamic). In Ngala LGA (Borno state), participants also noted that ensuring schools are safe to access and attend was a priority.

10%

11%

32%

8%

10%

31%

Yobe

Adamawa

Borno

Female Male


24

17 Mariam, Masha et al (2016), North-East Nigeria - Recovery and peace building assessment, World Bank.

“For our older children that have missed many school days, we want them to acquire skills and participate in vocational training.” – Female FGD participant (non-displaced), Gwoza LGA (Borno

state)

“Provision of school sandals, school uniform, writing materials, school bags and payment of school levies will go a long way to help us enrol them into formal school.” – Female FGD participant

(displaced), Jere LGA (Borno state)

“If we are supported with farming implements like herbicide, insecticide, seeds and small capital to use, we can sell some produce and enrol our children in school, and still eat” – FGD participant,

Galdimare IDP Camp B, Biu LGA (Borno state)

3.4. Access and Learning Environment: School Infrastructure

The severe impacts of conflict on school infrastructure in north-east Nigeria have been documented in previous assessments, with the 2016 Recovery and Peace Building Assessment estimating 249 million USD worth of damage to education infrastructure within Borno, Adamawa and Yobe.17 Although the level of functionality of classrooms appears to have improved slightly since the 2017 JENA, the situation of WASH facilities in schools is still particularly dire. This has a negative impact on school attendance: insufficient WASH facilities in schools was reported as a main barrier to attendance for both boys and girls (19% of KIs and 18% of KIs respectively).

3.4.1 Infrastructure condition Across all states, one in four schools was sharing infrastructure, typically with schools from conflict-affected communities which had moved to safer or more accessible locations. This was particularly common in Ngala, Jere, Dikwa and Bama LGAs. Schools sharing infrastructure are typically managed and operated separately, with separate teaching staff and students. The general status of infrastructure varied across states. In Yobe, 58% of schools required significant rehabilitation or full rebuilding, compared to 47% in Adamawa and 39% in Borno.

Figure 7: Reported status of school infrastructure

9%

11%

9%

38%

28%

49%

38%

37%

27%

13%

19%

12%

2%

4%

1%

2%

Adamawa

Borno

Yobe

Full rebuilding needed Significant rehabilitation needed

Minor rehabilitation needed Good condition

Perfect condition Unable to verify


25

A primary school classroom in Numan LGA Adamawa State

A primary school in Yobe State


26

18 It should be noted that due to coverage and methodology, the two assessments are not strictly comparable, and this should be taken as indicative only.

3.4.2 Classroom functionality and space Level of classroom functionality varied across states. In Borno, 80% of classrooms were functioning, whilst in Yobe 74% were and in Adamawa 66% were. In all states, schools had an average of 3 non-functioning classrooms per school. This is an improvement since the 2017 JENA, which found that an average of six classrooms per school were not functioning.18

Figure 8: Average number of functioning and non-functioning classrooms per school

Despite apparent improvements, access to sufficient classroom space remains a significant challenge across north-east Nigeria. Overall, KIs reported that classroom space was sufficient in just 21% of schools. The situation appeared worse in Yobe, where just 15% of KIs reported that space was sufficient, compared to 21% in Borno and 26% in Adamawa. Indeed, the number of students per functioning classroom is high: 129 in Borno, 128 in Yobe, and 63 in Adamawa. Within Borno, overcrowding was particularly extreme in Ngala (182), Jere (179), Maiduguri (155), Damboa (153) and Gwoza (140). Where schools are unable to accommodate children in classrooms, classes typically take place outside.

Figure 9: Average number of students per functioning classroom

6

9

11

1

1

2

2

2

1

Adamawa

Yobe

Borno

Functioning classrooms

Non-functioning classrooms: reparable

Non-functioning classrooms: fully destroyed

63

128

129

Adamawa

Yobe

Borno


27

19 ACAPs and EiEWG Nigeria, Nigeria Joint Education Needs Assessment, November 2017. Note that findings are not directly

comparable due to different methodologies and coverage, and comparisons should be taken as indicative only.

Map 4: Percentage of schools reporting sufficient classrooms and space

3.4.3 WASH facilities The majority of schools (63%) reported that the main source of drinking water was an improved source, most commonly boreholes / tubewells (43%), followed by handpumps (10%) and public taps (7%). However, these sources were often not functioning or providing safe drinking water: at the time of assessment, fewer than half of schools actually had current access to adequate and safe drinking water, with a slightly better situation in Borno (47%) compared to Yobe (40%) and Adamawa (33%). This appears to be an improvement since the 2017 JENA, which found that only 34% of schools had clean drinking water available.19 The relative lack of water in Adamawa may be partially due to the limited response by humanitarian partners in these areas.

Borno

Yobe

Adamawa

Biu

Bama

Damboa

Konduga

Gujba

Magumeri

Gwoza

Dikwa

Ngala

Damaturu

Monguno

Jere

Michika

Numan

Madagali

Bade

Bade

Potiskum

Maiduguri

Yola South


28

Figure 10: Main source of drinking water in schools (dark blue improved, light blue non-improved)

In Adamawa, schools were much less likely to report that drinking water was from an improved source. See Annex 3 for a state-level breakdown of drinking water sources.

Figure 11: Main source of drinking water in schools (improved and non-improved)

Overall, there was an average of 230 students per functioning latrine. As with overcrowding of classrooms, the situation is particularly extreme in Borno, followed by Yobe, with slightly less crowding in Adamawa. Within Borno, there are notably high student:latrine ratios in Jere (419), Gwoza (372), Maiduguri (290), Dikwa (278), Biu (288) and Bama LGAs (285).

43%

10%

7%

2%

1%

1%

9%

6%

4%

2%

16%

Borehole / tubewell

Handpump

Public tap / standpipe

Protected well (sealed)

Piped

Sachet water

Water vendor Mai ruwau

Unprotected well (open)

Surface / river

Water trucking

Not sure

49%

63%

70%

23%

21%

20%

28%

16%

11%

Adamawa

Yobe

Borno

Improved Unimproved Not sure


29

Figure 12: Average number of students per functioning latrine

The most common type of latrines in schools were traditional latrines / pits, followed by open space / no latrines. The situation in Adamawa appeared worse, with 30% of schools reporting that they had no latrines and children used open spaces, compared to 13% in Yobe and 11% in Borno. Further, only 39% of schools in Adamawa reported that latrines were separate for staff and students, compared to 61% in Yobe and 55% in Borno.

Figure 13: Most common type of latrine available in schools

Male-female segregation of staff and student latrines was reported in less than half of schools. Again, the situation appears worse in Adamawa, where just 31% of schools had segregated toilets for students, and 29% had segregated toilets for staff.

Figure 14: Percentage of schools with separate latrines for males and females

Schools typically did not have working handwashing facilities for latrines, nor water and soap available. This was particularly severe in Adamawa, where 87% of schools had no working handwashing facilities compared to 82% in Yobe and 71% in Borno. Further, it was uncommon for schools to have water and soap available, especially in Adamawa, where, as noted previously, partners are less active.

148

225

268

Adamawa

Yobe

Borno

46%

63%

68%

30%

13%

11%

15%

18%

12%

1%

5%

8%

6%

4%

Adamawa

Yobe

Borno

Traditional latrines / pits Open space Public latrine blocks

Private / singular latrines Not sure

29%

46%

44%

31%

46%

56%

Adamawa

Yobe

Borno

Students Teachers


30

Figure 15: Percentage of schools with soap and water available in latrines

3.5. Teaching and learning Although the majority of schools reported that teachers generally had textbooks for all subjects or at least core subjects, children’s access to teaching and learning materials as more limited. In Yobe state, children in just 24% of schools had access to sufficient learning material, with even lower proportions in Borno (14%) and Adamawa (10%). School furniture was reported as a further gap, with just 33% of schools in Borno having adequate furniture (chairs, desks, mats), 24% in Yobe and 20% in Adamawa. It is also worth noting that although English was used to teach in 94% of schools, it was only spoken by children as a most common language in 25% of schools. Further, a majority of schools (62%) reported that children face challenges with learning due to language barriers, mostly commonly affecting around a quarter or a half of children.

3.5.1 Teaching and learning materials Most of the schools assessed indicated that teachers had textbooks for either almost all the subjects being taught or for the core subjects taught. This was slightly less common in Yobe, where 70% of schools reported that teachers had textbooks for all the subjects or core subjects only, as compared to Adamawa and Borno which indicated 80% and 74% respectively.

Figure 16: Percentage of schools with teachers having textbooks for subjects taught

Although textbooks for teachers was not reported as a major issue, schools did report that children’s access to teaching and learning materials was limited. In Yobe state, children in just 24% of the schools assessed were reported to have access to sufficient learning material, with even lower proportions in Borno (14%) and Adamawa (10%). This was corroborated by direct observation in schools: only 6% of schools assessed in Borno reported that all children have learning materials, whilst more than 65% of the schools in Adamawa reported

85%

70%

66%

3%

2%

3%

10%

19%

16%

1%

9%

15%

Adamawa

Borno

Yobe

Neither water nor soap Soap only Water only Water and soap available

30%

34%

21%

51%

40%

49%

15%

22%

14%

5%

4%

17%

Adamawa

Borno

Yobe

For all or almost all subjects For core subjects only

For one or two subjects No textbooks


31

that none (0%) or some (21-40%) of the children have learning materials. During joint analysis, partners indicated that the minimum requirements for learning packets and materials in the area should be more clearly defined, as should the responsibilities of learners to safeguard their materials.

Figure 17: Percentage of schools observed in which children have sufficient access to teaching and learning materials

Similarly, furniture was also reported as a gap. Only 33% of schools assessed in Borno reported having adequate furniture (chairs, desks, mats), as did 24% in Yobe and 20% in Adamawa. Across BAY, a majority of schools have adequate blackboards, whilst only 39% of schools in Borno reported having adequate whiteboards, as did 9% in Yobe and none (0%) in Adamawa. Partners reported that the preference for blackboards is due to the expense of whiteboard markers, as chalk and markers are often purchased through personal funds.

Table 9: Percentage of schools reporting access to adequate furniture

Chalk/Markers Furniture (Chairs, Desks,

Mats) Blackboard Whiteboard

No Not Sure Yes No Not Sure Yes No Not Sure Yes No Not Sure Yes

Adamawa 46% 3% 51% 77% 3% 20% 37% 3% 60% 100% 0% 0%

Borno 19% 4% 77% 66% 1% 33% 14% 2% 84% 61% 0% 39%

Yobe 30% 2% 67% 74% 2% 24% 9% 4% 87% 89% 2% 9%

Generally, across the assessed schools, instructional materials were in good shape and were appropriately stored, with the exception of Adamawa where 69% of the assessed schools had materials improperly stored. Further, it was observed that in 83% of the schools in Yobe were using teaching and learning materials appropriately, as were 77% of school in Borno and 49% in Yobe. Issues with storing or using materials appear most prevalent in Numan and Monguno LGS, where 100% and 80% of schools respectively do not use materials appropriately.

14%

29%

26%

6%

23%

3%

0%

7%

19%17%

24%

15%

12%

6%4%

13%

26%

9%

26%

22%

0%

None A few (1-20%) Some (21-40%)

About half(41-60%)

Most (61-80%)

Almost all(81-99%)

All (100%)

Adamawa Borno Yobe


32

Figure 18: Percentage of schools using teaching and learning materials appropriately

3.5.2 School feedback on teaching and learning materials provided A majority of the schools assessed indicated that they had received some sort of support for teaching and learning materials (Borno 83%, Yobe 83% and Adamawa 74%). Support was mostly provided by the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) in Yobe and Adamawa, whilst INGOs are reported to have provided a large proportion of the support to schools assessed in Borno.

Figure 19: Providers of teaching and learning materials

However, of the schools assessed - 73% in Borno, 71% in Yobe and 69% in Adamawa – a majority stated that the support they received was not sufficient. In Numan (100%), Gwoza (100%), Magumeri (100%), Damboa (92%), Potiskum (90%) LGAs, the highest proportion of schools that indicated the support received was not sufficient. Further, in a minority of the schools assessed – 23% in Adamawa, 13% in Borno and 11% in Yobe – learning materials or support received was reportedly not relevant to their curriculum.

100%

45% 50%

100%

58%

100%

67%

89% 94%

75%83%

20%

92%85%

71% 77%

55%

100%

50%42%

33%

11% 6%

25%17%

80%

8%15%

29% 23%M

adag

ali

Mic

hik

a

Nu

man

Yola

So

uth

Bam

a

Biu

Dam

bo

a

Gw

oza

Jere

Ko

nd

uga

Mag

um

eri

Mai

du

guri

Mo

ngu

no

Bad

e

Dam

atu

ru

Gu

jba

Po

tisk

um

Adamawa Borno Yobe

No

Yes

58%

39%

61%

12%

9%

8%

45%

5%

23%

8%

34%

Adamawa

Borno

YobeSUBEB

NNGO

INGO

other


33

Figure 20: Percentage of schools reporting that support was relevant to the curriculum

3.5.3 Language Although English was used to teach in 94% of schools, it was only spoken by children as a most common language in 25% of schools. Hausa was both commonly used for teaching and spoken by children. Languages used varied by state, with Kanuri being more commonly taught in Borno (38% of schools), and Fulfide in Adamawa (14%). See Annex 4 for a full breakdown of languages spoken in schools at the state level.

Figure 21: Common languages used for teaching and spoken by children

English was used or taught as a language in 95% of schools in Adamawa, 97% of schools in Borno, and 91% of schools in Yobe. Students were most commonly expected to transition to learning fully in English in grade 1 (26%), grade 4 (32%) or grade 6 (21%). This varied slightly between states, with the majority in Yobe transitioning in grade 4, and in Adamawa and Borno in either grade 1 or grade 6.

23%

13%

11%

2%

77%

86%

89%

Adamawa

Borno

Yobe

No Not sure Yes

94%

86%

23%

5%

5%

4%

2%

2%

2%

25%

79%

30%

6%

7%

4%

3%

4%

2%

1%

1%

1%

English

Hausa

Kanuri

Bura

Fulfide

Other

Arabic

Margi

Babur

Higgi

Ngizim

Bachama

Bade

Used for teaching Commonly spoken by children


34

Figure 22: Grade for transitioning into learning in English

Around half of schools (47%) reported that some teachers face difficulties communicating with children due to language issues. This most commonly affected around a quarter of teachers. A larger proportion of schools (62%) reported that children face challenges with learning due to language barriers, mostly commonly affecting around a quarter or a half of children. This was particularly problematic in Adamawa, where some students faced difficulties learning due to language in 86% of schools, and teachers faced difficulties communicating in 76% of schools.

Figure 23: Proportion of teachers and students facing difficulties communicating or learning

Proportion of teachers in the school facing difficulties communicating

Proportion of students in the school facing difficulties learning due to language

All or almost

all

Around three

quarters Around

half

Around a

quarter None All or

almost all

Around three

quarters Around

half Around a quarter None

Adamawa 1% 6% 24% 45% 24% 1% 7% 32% 46% 14%

Borno 1% 6% 5% 24% 66% 2% 10% 16% 24% 49%

Yobe 0% 3% 12% 33% 52% 0% 4% 19% 40% 36%

Total 1% 5% 11% 31% 53% 1% 8% 20% 32% 38%

3.6. Teachers and other education personnel

Teachers and other education personnel are crucial for the success of any education system. During humanitarian crises, it is often overlooked that they are not only often a part of the affected population and impacted personally experiencing displacement, loss and trauma but must also cope with the negative professional consequences of the crisis on education systems that are often already in difficult developmental conditions. In the context of north-east Nigeria, this may include loss of or inadequate teaching and learning materials (see previous section), lack of or delayed salary payments, teaching in damaged or temporary classrooms, overcrowding and schools being recipients of displaced learners also suffering from traumatic experiences. Furthermore, due to the socio-political context of the conflict in north-east Nigeria, the education system and teachers are even targeted and attacked. In other words, an already challenging profession in the best of circumstances can become a seemingly impossible task in the face of such hardship. It is essential therefore, that the needs of and subsequent support for teachers and other education not be forgotten.

3.6.1. Registered (government) and volunteer teachers This study finds that on average there are 36 teachers per school, with Borno having a much higher average (46) than Adamawa (22) and Yobe (24). This is most likely due to the lower density populations of the latter and

12%

26%

31%

4%

5%

3%

7%

13%

9%

55%

26%

27%

9%

5%

8%

12%

25%

22%

Yobe

Adamawa

Borno

Primary 1 Primary 2 Primary 3 Primary 4 Primary 5 Primary 6


35

increased number of rural schools, as well as higher levels of humanitarian response in Borno state. Between the three states, a significant portion (27%) of the teaching staff is comprised of volunteers. This is a significant finding: more than 1 out of every 4 teachers in the affected area is a volunteer which speaks to the current lack of recruitment of qualified teachers (see below) and the potential impact on the quality of education provision. While the assessment did not specifically explore how the volunteers are compensated, anecdotal findings suggest that volunteer teachers often do receive some form of payment, allowance or in-kind incentive from INGOs and NNGOs. This was estimated to be between 10,000-18,000 Naira (approximately 27-50 US Dollars) per month.

Figure 24: Average number of teachers/volunteers per school

Figure 25: Percentage of registered teachers vs. volunteer teachers

In terms of gender breakdown of the teaching workforce, overall the male/female breakdown for registered teachers is exactly 50/50%, while volunteer teachers do have a female majority (59/41%). This is thought to be due to recruitment policies of those providing the volunteers to favour female rather than male instructors.

Figure 26: % of registered teachers male/female Figure 27: % of volunteer teachers male/female

3.6.2. Student-to-teacher ratio Overall average student-to-teacher ratio is quite high when considering only registered teachers (1:55), especially in Yobe (1:69) and Borno (1:60). This drops significantly when the volunteer workforce is calculated as part of the ratio, with an overall average of 1:39. This finding supports the discussion above regarding the necessity to supplement the official workforce with volunteer teachers in order to keep student-to-teacher ratios at a tolerable level. Unfortunately, data by school level is not available.

20

32

18

26

2

14

6

10

Adamawa

Borno

Yobe

Total

Registered teachers Volunteer teachers

90%

69%

74%

73%

10%

31%

26%

27%

Adamawa

Borno

Yobe

Total

Registered teachers Volunteer teachers

52%

49%

54%

50%

48%

51%

46%

50%

Adamawa

Borno

Yobe

Total

Registered teachers: Male

Registered teachers: Female

67%

58%

64%

59%

33%

42%

36%

41%

Adamawa

Borno

Yobe

Total

Volunteer teachers: Male

Volunteer teachers: Female


36

20 Responses that received 3% or lower have been included in “Other”. This includes responses such as: found other work, working at another school, in-service, illness, injured/hurt in attack on school, attack occupation school, lack accommodation, study in National Youth Service Corps.

Figure 28: Student-to-teacher ratio (Note: for increased accuracy, all ratios calculated per school shift)

At the LGA level, some had troublingly high student-to-teacher ratio (for registered teachers), in particular Ngala (134), Gwoza (126) in Borno state and Damaturu (74), Gujba (86) and Potiskum (80) in Yobe state. However, when volunteer teachers are included in the calculation, only Ngala had a ratio over 75.

3.6.3. Teacher absenteeism When asked about teacher absenteeism, 36% of schools reported that 50-100% of their teacher workforce do not come to school regularly.

Table 10: Percentage of schools reporting on how many teachers do not come to school regularly

State All or almost

all (100%) Around three

quarters (75%) Around half

(50%) Around a

quarter (25%) None (0%)

Adamawa 9% 22% 16% 41% 11%

Borno 12% 15% 8% 41% 24%

Yobe 9% 4% 6% 43% 37%

Total 11% 15% 10% 41% 23%

The reasons why teachers are not regularly coming to school are outlined in the table below. While conflict-related factors are certainly present (e.g. insecurity 10%, displacement 8%) the most cited reasons why teachers do not regularly go to work is due to illness/sickness (26%), pregnancy/maternity leave (26%), low/poor salary (23%) and distance to school (23%). Given these findings, it is important to consider humanitarian/development coherence and collaboration so that humanitarian actors development actors work closely together to explore education interventions pertaining to salaries, healthcare and transportation rather than strictly ‘education in emergencies’ interventions.

Table 11: Reasons for teachers not coming to school

State Sick

Preg-nant/

maternity leave

Low/ poor salar

y

Dist-ance

to scho

ol

Attend trainin

g

Insecurity in area

or school

Non pay-

ment of

salary

Displaced

conflict

Lack of foo

d

Support-ing

family/ childre

n Othe

r20 Adamawa

20% 18% 29% 26% 14% 18% 10% 10% 9% 5% 29%

Borno 28% 32% 26% 24% 13% 9% 9% 8% 6% 6% 23% Yobe 25% 18% 7% 15% 28% 4% 3% 6% 0% 6% 9%

32

60

69

55

27

40

51

39

Adamawa

Borno

Yobe

Total

Students per 1 teacher (registered only)

Students per 1 teacher (registered and volunteer)


37

21 Responses that received 3% or lower have been included in “Other” This includes: recruitment of more teachers, infrastructure and

classroom improvement, and transportation.

Total 26% 26% 23% 23% 16% 10% 8% 8% 5% 5% 22%

3.6.4. Teacher incentives Schools were also asked what could be done to help motivate teachers to come to work and to do their work well. By far the most cited response (74%) was to increase the teacher salary; related to that, is the third and fourth most cited responses: to ensure the timely payment of salary (53%) and provision of other in-kind incentives (47%). Given the high rates of absenteeism and the findings above regarding reasons why teachers are not coming to school, these findings are not surprising: delayed, insufficient or unpaid salaries are most impacting teacher presence and performance. In other words, the primary challenge facing teachers in performing their duties appears to be an economic one. Once again, while issues of security are present in the findings (20% of schools did report that provision of security would help motivate teachers to do their work well), these findings appear to be less significant.

Table 12: What would most motivate teachers to do their work well?

State Increase in salary

Provision of

teaching and

learning aids

Timely payment of salary

Provision of other

incentives (housing,

health insurance,

etc.) Provision

of security Workshops

trainings Promotions Other21 Adamawa 66% 61% 72% 43% 34% 1% 5% 2% Borno 81% 53% 40% 50% 17% 14% 3% 9% Yobe 66% 52% 67% 45% 12% 3% 18% 6%

Total 74% 55% 53% 47% 20% 9% 6% 7%

Although “Non-payment of salary” as a reason for teachers not coming to school and “Timely payment of salary” as a potential motivation for teachers to do their work well were cited, when asked whether teachers are regularly paid, 91% of all schools reported “Always or almost always.”

Figure 29: Are teachers regularly paid?

82%

92%

97%

91%

17%

5%

3%

8%

1%

3%

2%

Adamawa

Borno

Yobe

Total

Always or almost always

Sometimes it comes, sometimes it does not

No salary or it always takes a very long times (3 months or more)


38

While this finding may slightly contradict the findings presented above it may suggest that the issue has less to do with the regularity (or irregularity) of payment and more to do with the inadequacy of payment. Indeed, only 8% of schools cited “Non-payment of salary” as a primary reason why teachers do not come to school as opposed to 23% citing “Low/poor salary”, as well as a significantly higher 74% “Increase in salary" response to what would motivate teachers more to come to school and do their work well as opposed to only 53% replying “Timely payment of salary.”

3.6.5. Psychosocial support and training Education in emergencies often considers the psychosocial needs of the children and learners; however, it is crucial not to overlook the psychosocial needs of the teachers as well who can also be exposed to traumatic and challenging experienced caused by the crisis. Only 22% of schools, however, report that all their teachers have access to psychosocial support (PSS) services. While 36% do report that ‘some’ teachers have access to PSS services, 43% report that PSS services is not available to any of the teachers at their school.

Figure 30: Do teachers have access to psychosocial support services (e.g. counselling)?

Figure 31: Have teachers had access to psychosocial support training in the past year?

Not only is access to PSS services for teachers limited in the affected states, but also access to PSS training for teachers, which often includes identification of trauma in children, referral pathways for professional counselling services, etc.

3.6.6. Teacher qualifications and training In terms of teacher qualifications, only 39% of schools report having all or almost all of their teachers with the minimum level of qualification. 24% of schools, almost 1 out of every 4, report having half or less of their teacher workforce as having the minimum required teaching qualification. The large numbers of teachers working in schools is not surprising when considering the high percentage of the teacher workforce that is comprised of volunteer teachers (27%).

11%

26%

21%

22%

30%

35%

46%

36%

59%

39%

33%

43%

Adamawa

Borno

Yobe

Total

Yes, all teachers

Yes, some teachers

No teachers have access

10%

30%

28%

25%

37%

50%

46%

46%

53%

20%

25%

29%

Adamawa

Borno

Yobe

Total

Yes, all teachers

Yes, some teachers

No teachers have access


39

Figure 32: How many teachers in the school have at least the minimum teaching qualification?

While 25% of schools report that teachers have received no training in the past year, 75% have had at least some sort of teaching training. The most trained on topic cited (51%) is psychosocial support; this finding does correlate to that presented above wherein 25% of schools report that all teachers and 46% that some teachers have received PSS training in the past year. Additional common topics include Pedagogy (26%), Child Protection in Emergencies (21%) and Hygiene Promotion (20%).

Figure 33: What training have teachers received in the last school year?

36%

46%

22%

39%

37%

36%

39%

37%

17%

8%

22%

13%

10%

8%

9%

9%

2%

7%

2%

Adamawa

Borno

Yobe

Total

All or almost all (100%) Around three quarters (75%) Around half (50%)

Around a quarter (25%) None

51%

26%

21%

20%

18%

16%

16%

14%

13%

10%

11%

12%

7%

25%

PSS

Pedagogy

Child Protection in Emergencies

Hygiene Promotion

Conflict Disaster Risk Reduction (CDRR)

School safety child protection

Child centred methodology

Gender Based Violence (GBV)

ECCD concepts

Positive Discipline

Life Skills and Mine Risk Education

Child Rights

Cholera Mitigation Measures (CMM)

None


40

3.7. Protection A key component of education in emergencies is ensuring that children have access to a safe and protective learning environment in which they receive immediate physical, psychological and cognitive protection during a crisis, learn life-saving messages and skills and receive support from other life-saving and protective sectors. In a crisis as complex and potentially dangerous as that of North-East Nigeria, it is essential, therefore, that this assessment look at the various risks and protection issues facing children as the travel to and from as well as attend learning activities.

3.7.1. Safety risks The vast majority (88%) of the schools surveyed report that children feel safe travelling to and from school as well as while attending classes. Two LGAs that stood out with elevated percentages where headteachers reported children not feeling safe coming to school: Madagali (53%) in Adamawa and Magumeri (50%) in Borno.

Figure 34: Do children feel safe coming to school?

When asked about specific safety risks currently facing children in the area, around a third of KIs cited that there are no risks. The other main risks cited were not directly conflict-related: “Crossing rivers/flooding” (22%) and “Heavy traffic/Crossing roads” (21%). Only 3% of headteachers mentioned ‘Conflict insecurity’ – although conflict-related insecurities, such as “Passing checkpoints” (12%) and “Mines/UXOs” (8%), did receive a slightly higher percentage of responses.

Table 13: What are the biggest safety risks for children in the area?

State

No safet

y risks

Crossing rivers/

flooding

Heavy Traffic/

Crossing roads

Passing

check-points

Harrass-ment to/

from school

Mines/UXOs

Conflict insecuri

ty

Harrass-ment at school Other

Borno 37% 17% 23% 12% 4% 9% 2% 2% 8%

Yobe 19% 24% 24% 7% 9% 10% 4% 3% 9%

Adamawa 15% 31% 13% 17% 21% 5% 3% 5% 14%

Total 28% 22% 21% 12% 9% 8% 3% 3% 9%

Once again this highlights the necessity for humanitarian-development coherence; as the main safety risks do not appear to be conflict-related, the interventions to reduce these risks may need to be more development oriented in nature.

92%

88%

77%

88%

5%

10%

20%

10%

3%

1%

3%

3%

Borno

Yobe

Adamawa

Total

Yes No Not sure


41

3.7.2. Presence of armed actors One definite conflict-related safety risk in North-East Nigeria is the presence of armed actors at or near the schools. 26% of headteachers report some type of armed guard/actor at or near the school, with armed guards for protecting the school comprising 9% and armed actors 16%. A higher percentage of schools in Adamawa report presence of armed actors (37%). While the protective nature of armed guards may be an indication of insecurity in a particular area, the presence of armed actors poses a significant security risk for the children not only potentially increasing the risk of the school being attacked or caught in crossfire fighting but also harassment, gender-based violence and recruitment of children. For figures on attacks on education perpetrated by armed actors, see the next section.

Table 14: Are there armed actors present at or near the school?

State

No armed

actors

Armed actors

close to school

Armed guards

at school

Armed actors in

school or at

school gate

Yobe 90% 9% 1% 0%

Borno 74% 12% 10% 4%

Adamawa 63% 20% 13% 5%

Total 74% 13% 9% 3%

3.7.3. Attacks on education The most common reported types of attack on education were schools being hit by bullets, shells or shrapnel (26% at least once) and schools being robbed or looted (24% at least once). Comparison across the three states shows a pretty even distribution of the attacks, with Yobe showing a slightly reduced number/percentage.

Figure 35: Schools reporting a particlar type of attack since 2012

74%

76%

83%

87%

89%

89%

92%

92%

95%

96%

98%

12%

14%

13%

11%

8%

7%

5%

6%

3%

3%

2%

14%

9%

4%

3%

3%

5%

3%

3%

3%

1%

0.3%

Hit by bullets, shells or shrapnel

School robbed/looted

School deliberately set on fire

Children/staff killed or injured in attack

School occupied by armed actors

Children/staff threatened verbally or by letter

Targeted by suicide bombing

Children/staff physcially attacked by armed actorswhile carrying out education activities

Attacked by planes/helicopters

Children abducted while attending school orparticipating in school activities

Child recruitment armed actors

Never Once Multiple times


42

It is important to note that these findings represent attacks since 2012. Unfortunately, the responses cannot be disaggregated by date for a trend analysis; however, it does seem from secondary data, anecdotal findings, and the safety risks cited above, that the frequency of overt attacks on education is decreasing. Future assessments, however, should explore this in more detail.


43

4. Recommendations and conclusion The following conclusions and recommendations provide an overview of the main education-related challenges and associated recommendation in north-east Nigeria. It is recommended that a more granular, area-level analysis is used to prioritise key issues within LGAs in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe state separately, during the EiEWG strategy development process.

Access and learning environment • Across all states, around a quarter of schools were unable to enrol children in the 2018-2019. It is

recommended that a referral mechanism is established to identify children and households who have been unable to enrol in schools due to overcrowding or an inability to pay for education-related costs. Based on needs, it may be necessary to explore cash and voucher assistance and/or in-kind supply distribution.

• Certain profiles of children face greater barriers to accessing education. Ongoing efforts to increase enrolment and education should proactively target girls at the junior secondary school (JSS) and senior secondary school (SSS) levels and children from low-income families. Given the deep-rooted issues of poverty and early marriage acting as key barriers to accessing schools, it is recommended to consider innovative integrated protection and livelihoods programming. Furthermore, the appalling pupil-to-latrine ratios found in this assessment may also be contributing to drop-out rates amongst adolescent girls. Increased and improved numbers of gender-segregated latrines and WASH facilities (see below) as well as provision of dignitary kits should be explored.

• Displaced children also face significant challenges to accessing schools. Increased provision of education services in sites and camps, including both additional infrastructure and qualified teachers, would help increase attendance rates and provide a protective environment for children living in camps.

• Caregivers of out-of-school children were asked about their preferences on support to increase attendance and enrolment. They emphasised a preference for material and financial support, in particular provision of uniforms, learning materials, payment of school levies and snacks or food. Additionally, participants reported a high demand for technical and vocational trainings, both for themselves but also for their older children or youth, particularly for those who may have missed school. It is recommended that these perceptions are taken into account during planning.

• Children with disabilities are a further population group of concern. Additional programming focusing on increasing their current access to schools is necessary. Part of this includes improving their ability to access the few special schools available, as well as a greater emphasis on providing alternative learning opportunities, and developing inclusive education programmes to ensure infrastructure and curriculum within non-specialised schools is inclusive and adapted for children with disabilities. The latter is particularly important given that without significant investment and new building of special schools, the majority of children with disabilities will not be able to access special schools and will need to be incorporated into mainstream education.

• Within schools, the situation of WASH facilities is particularly dire, which negatively impacts school attendance across north-east Nigeria. Improving facilities should be prioritised, including ensuring schools have access to adequate and safe drinking water, increasing the prevalence and functionality of latrines, and ensuring soap and water is available for handwashing.

Teaching and learning • Children’s access to learning materials was reported as an issue, with just 24% of children having access

to sufficient materials in Yobe, 14% in Borno and 10% in Adamawa. Schools tended to state that teaching and learning material support was not sufficient, despite ongoing distributions. School furniture (chairs, desks, mats) was reported as a further gap across all states.


44

• A majority of schools (62%) reported that children face challenges with learning due to language barriers, mostly commonly affecting around a quarter or a half of children. In locations where language issues are particularly problematic, provision of supplementary language classes should be considered.

Teachers and other education personnel • Overall average student-to-teacher ratio is quite high when considering only registered teachers (1:55),

especially in Yobe (1:69) and Borno (1:60). This drops significantly when the volunteer workforce is calculated as part of the ratio, with an overall average of 1:39. This finding highlights the necessity to supplement the official workforce with volunteer teachers in order to keep student-to-teacher ratios at a tolerable level. However, due to the high levels of volunteers, a large percentage of the teaching workforce does not meet the minimum teaching qualifications. Increased training, especially for volunteers and with particular attention to potential professional advancement and qualification, should be considered and explored.

• Schools were also asked what could be done to help motivate teachers to come to work and to do their work well. By far the most cited response (74%) was to increase the teacher salary; related to that, is the third and fourth most cited responses: to ensure the timely payment of salary (53%) and provision of other in-kind incentives (47%). Education stakeholders in collaboration with the Ministry of Education should explore options for ensuring timely, reliable and adequate teacher salaries.

• In terms of providing quality teaching, there is currently little monitoring of teachers at the LGA level. Efforts to ensure teachers are committed can be implemented by SUBEB and Education Secretaries to allow full accountability and decrease absenteeism.

Protection • When asked about specific safety risks currently facing children in the area, the main responses were not

directly conflict-related: “Crossing rivers/flooding” (22%) and “Heavy traffic/Crossing roads” (21%). As the primary safety risks cited are not directly conflict-related, education stakeholders should look to humanitarian-development solutions and synergies to mitigate these predominantly transportation-related risks.

• Some conflict-related risks are still very much present, however, such as presence of armed actors in and around the school, children having to pass checkpoints on the way to/from school and the potential presence of mines and unexploded ordnances. Actions should be explored to reduce these risks; for the instances of reported mines or unexploded ordnances, immediate follow-up should be made to find out if this issue is current and if so to report directly to the Mine Action Sub-Working Group.

• Out-of-school children are likely to be at greater need of protection assistance. It is recommended to conduct more in-depth research on the prevalence and severity of children working, which was identified as a key barrier to attendance.

Assessments, data and monitoring • As noted in the methodology section, if information is required from another LGA, it is recommended to

use the same set of tools as used for this assessment (amended following lessons learned exercises). This includes both the sampling technique and the questionnaires, to allow for some level of comparability of

findings. Full comparability will not be possible due to different assessment dates. • During the assessment, some discrepancies were discovered within EMIS data, including on status, level

and functionality of school. It is recommended that the EiEWG records these and keeps an updated operational school list accessible by partners. This includes updating the list of closed schools, recording when schools have been relocated or are sharing infrastructure, and keeping a separate list of informal schools.

• Similarly, there is a lack of detailed and operational information on learning facilities within camps and sites. It is recommended that the EiEWG engage closely with DTM to ensure that the location and status of learning facilities within camps and sites is recorded appropriately.


45

• Finally, in order to ensure that trends can be tracked, particularly with regards attendance and enrolment, it is recommended that the EiEWG develop a set of core indicators that can be included in future partner data collection exercises.


46

Annexes

Annex 1: List of participating organisations Organisations forming the Assessment Working Group:

• Education in Emergencies Working Group Nigeria

• Gender Equality, Peace and Development Centre (GEPaDC)

• Restoration of Hope Initiative (ROHI)

• Save the Children International

• State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB)

• Street Child of Nigeria

• UNICEF Organisations participating in data collection and/or providing technical support:

• American University of Nigeria (AUN)

• Gender Equality, Peace and Development Centre (GEPaDC)

• Goal Prime Organisation Nigeria (GPON)

• iMMAP

• Intercommunity Development Social Organisation (IDSO)

• Ministry of Education (MoE) Adamawa

• Norweigan Refugee Council (NRC)

• Plan International

• Restoration of Hope Initiative (ROHI)

• Save the Children International

• Street Child of Nigeria

• SUBEB Borno

• Terre des Hommes

• REACH

• UNICEF

Annex 2: Attendance barriers

Reported barriers to attendance for girls (% of KIs reporting each barrier; KIs could select up to three):

State

Could not pay

fee / levy

Could not afford

education materials

Poor school

structure /

facilities

Distance to

school too far


Looked for / found job /

work / hawking

Prolonged illness

Displaced by

conflict

Insecurity on the way to

school or in the area

Adamawa 40% 22% 16% 8% 16% 18% 2% 8% 26%

Borno 13% 36% 5% 13% 14% 33% 6% 9% 6%

Yobe 13% 43% 0% 19% 36% 46% 9% 13% 6%

Total 20% 34% 7% 13% 19% 32% 5% 10% 11%


47

State

Joined or recruited

by an armed group Marriage Pregnancy

Language issue

Lack of teaching

staff

Lack of gender

segregation

Insufficient WASH

facilities in schools Flooding

Cultural barriers

Adamawa 1% 33% 1% 1% 2% 0% 13% 2% 1%

Borno 1% 39% 2% 3% 2% 2% 22% 0% 3%

Yobe 0% 19% 0% 3% 1% 1% 12% 1% 9%

Total 1% 34% 1% 2% 2% 1% 18% 1% 4%

State General poverty

Lack parent

support value

Lack awareness

Do not value

curriculum

No dropout / no reason

NA boys school only

Helping in household

Not sure Other

Adamawa 0% 6% 1% 0% 2% 0% 2% 9% 3%

Borno 8% 9% 5% 2% 2% 1% 1% 8% 7%

Yobe 3% 12% 1% 0% 1% 1% 0% 4% 3%

Total 5% 9% 3% 1% 2% 1% 1% 7% 5%

Reported barriers to attendance for boys (% of KIs reporting each barrier; KIs could select up to three):

State

Could not pay

fee / levy

Could not afford

education materials

Poor school

structure /

facilities

Distance to

school too far


Looked for /

found job /

work / hawking

Prolonged illness

Displaced by

conflict

Insecurity on the way to

school or in the area

Adamawa 36% 28% 13% 8% 39% 29% 1% 11% 24%

Borno 16% 37% 6% 11% 28% 39% 7% 10% 4%

Yobe 18% 46% 3% 15% 52% 39% 12% 9% 1%

Total 21% 37% 7% 11% 35% 36% 6% 10% 8%

State

Joined or recruited

by an armed group Marriage Pregnancy

Language issue

Lack of teaching

staff

Insufficient WASH

facilities in schools Flooding

Cultural barriers

General poverty

Adamawa 2% 8% 1% 0% 0% 10% 2% 0% 0%

Borno 2% 9% 1% 4% 1% 25% 0% 3% 7%

Yobe 6% 1% 1% 3% 3% 10% 1% 1% 0%

Total 3% 7% 1% 3% 1% 19% 1% 2% 4%

State

Lack parent

support value

Lack awareness

Children not

interested Peer

influence

No dropout / no reason

NA girls school only

Prefer other curriculum (qaranic)

Not sure Other

Adamawa 3% 0% 1% 0% 2% 2% 0% 8% 2%

Borno 3% 4% 1% 2% 4% 0% 2% 8% 4%

Yobe 9% 0% 0% 9% 1% 0% 1% 3% 1%

Total 4% 2% 1% 3% 3% 1% 1% 7% 3%


48

Annex 3: Drinking water sources

% of KIs reporting each source of drinking water:

State

Bore hole / tube well

Hand pump

Public tap stand pipe

Prote-cted / sealed well

Piped dwelling

Sachet / water

Water vendor / Mai ruwau

Unprot- ected well / open

Surface river

Water truck-ing

Not sure

Adamawa 29% 14% 3% 0% 0% 3% 5% 9% 8% 1% 28%

Borno 52% 8% 9% 1% 1% 0% 12% 4% 2% 3% 11%

Yobe 37% 10% 6% 6% 3% 0% 7% 9% 4% 0% 16%

Total 43% 10% 7% 2% 1% 1% 9% 6% 4% 2% 16%

Annex 4: Languages spoken

% of KIs reporting that each language is commonly used for teaching:

State Hausa Kanuri English Fulfide Arabic Babur Bura Margi Other

Adamawa 82% 0% 95% 14% 1% 0% 0% 5% 10%

Borno 88% 38% 92% 0% 3% 3% 9% 2% 1%

Yobe 82% 7% 97% 6% 1% 0% 0% 0% 4%

Total 86% 23% 94% 5% 2% 2% 5% 2% 4%

% of KIs reporting that each language is commonly spoken by children:

State Hausa Kanuri English Fulfide Babur Bachama Bade Bura Higgi Ngizim Margi Other

Adamawa 82% 1% 48% 24% 0% 5% 0% 0% 7% 0% 5% 7%

Borno 75% 48% 20% 1% 6% 0% 0% 10% 0% 0% 3% 4%

Yobe 88% 16% 7% 4% 3% 0% 6% 0% 0% 7% 0% 3%

Total 79% 30% 25% 7% 4% 1% 1% 6% 2% 1% 3% 4%

federal ministry adamawa state. joint education needs … · 2019. 12. 6. · eiewg nigeria joint...

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