Safe Schools Conference takes places in Abuja
By Oliver Mawhinney - IPNEd Policy & Advocacy Advisor
First international Safe Schools conference held on the continent of Africa.
Nigeria, where more than 1,400 students have been abducted this year, hosted the Conference.
112 UN member states have endorsed the Safe Schools Declaration, urged to now move from commitment to practice to accelerate implementation.
Range of good practice shared across three day Conference, including collaboration across ministries, resourcing of national action plans and investment in alternative learning programmes.
Children and communities in conflict areas called for universal endorsement and implementation of the Declaration so that they and their children are safe at school.
Henrietta Forde, Executive Director Unicef, addressing delegates Ⓒ GCPEA
On October 25 - 27 2021, delegates from around the world convened in Abuja and virtually for the Fourth International Conference on the Safe Schools Declaration.
Representatives from UN member states and agencies, communities affected by conflict, and civil society - including the International Parliamentary Network for Education - met with the aim of taking stock and reviewing progress in implementation of the Safe Schools Declaration (SSD).
Ahead of the Abuja Conference, IPNEd member parliamentarians encouraged their governments to endorse and implement the Declaration. Parliamentarians also participated in an event co-convened with the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack (GCPEA).
A first for the Safe Schools Conference
It was the first time the biennial conference had been held on the African continent, and in a country and region severely affected by attacks on its students, educators and schools.
In Nigeria, attacks and abductions against children and teachers, which were initially localised to the northeast, are now engulfing much of the country, with over 1,400 students abducted since December 2020.
Ongoing conflict is compounding an education crisis and driving Nigeria’s out-of-school child population. Children are too scared to travel to school, teachers are too fearful to return to the classroom and parents are electing for the safety of home rather than sending their children to school.
H.E. Chukwuemeka Nwajibua, Minister of State for Education, Federal Republic of Nigeria, speaking during the Conference’s Opening Ceremony Ⓒ GCPEA
Education under attack
Listening to those children and their communities served as a stark reminder that, despite the great progress that has been achieved through the Safe Schools Declaration, work remains to make the promise of safe education a reality.
With the Declaration itself now endorsed by well over half of UN member states, the Abuja Conference aimed to move from commitment to practice to encourage states to accelerate implementation of the SSD. These are some of the key takeaways:
1. Collaboration across ministries is key
The Conference brought together Ministries of Defence, Education, Foreign Affairs and Justice demonstrating the importance of embedding the SSD framework across government to better safeguard education.
The role of the Ministry of Defence was highlighted. GCPEA revealed that the military use of schools and universities in countries that were early endorsers of the Safe Schools Declaration declined by over 60% between 2015 and 2020. In several of those countries, governments updated their military manuals and doctrines to explicitly prohibit schools for military use - a crucial step to ensuring schools and universities are not a target for attack.
Ms. Audrey Azoulay, UNESCO Director-General, addressing delegates Ⓒ GCPEA
2. National action plans need to be fully resourced
Sustained and sensitive budgeting is essential for effective implementation. Action plans for implementing the Safe Schools Declaration at national and local levels must be adequately resourced. The provision of psychosocial and gender-sensitive support should also be accounted for in national plans.
In many countries, this will require a substantial increase in public financing for education in line with the international benchmarks on public spending on education.
Through its Multi-Year Resilience Programme (MYRP), Education Cannot Wait - the global fund for education in emergencies - is supporting governments to implement safe schools plans. Donor governments should ensure that ECW is fully funded, as well as adopting “conflict sensitive” approaches to education in their humanitarian and development programmes.
3. Learn from the lessons of COVID
One of the questions posed during discussions on engaging with non-state armed groups, who are increasingly using schools as weapons, was ‘How do we support children when simply being in school is a danger and threat to them?’.
ECW’s Director of Education, Graham Lang outlined many positive examples of how alternative and distance learning programmes, including low-tech solutions, have kept education alive during the COVID-19 pandemic. These should be built on and invested in to ensure all students out of schools due to conflict, including refugees and internally displaced children, are able to continue their learning.
ECW’s Director of Education, Graham Lang speaking during a panel on ensuring continuity of education in zones of conflict
4. Regional leadership can drive progress
The African Union joined GCPEA and the Governments of Nigeria, Norway, Argentina and Spain in co-hosting the Conference.
The African Union’s Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, H.E. Amb. Bankole Adeoye, reiterated the call on member states to endorse and implement the Declaration. He also set out that the AU Doctrine on Peace Support Operation had embedded the principles of the Declaration and banned the use of schools for military purposes in peacekeeping operations.
We now need to see similar leadership from other regions. The Nigerian Foreign Ministry should urge the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to adopt a similar ban during any ECOWAS-led military or peacekeeping action.
IPNEd’s Regional Representative for Asia, MNA Mehnaz Aziz has urged for leadership from regional bodies and governments in Asia. Following the change of regime in Afghanistan and the grave threat to the right to education it would be pertinent for the next Safe Schools Conference to take place in Asia.
5. Empower and listen to children and communities
In the lead up to the Conference, Save the Children consulted 300 children in 10 conflict-affected countries to ask what governments should do to ensure they feel safe at school.
During the Conference, some of those children from the Borneo State Children’s Parliament tabled a motion addressed to the Nigerian Government and world leaders.
Their demands were simple: to be able to get to and from their schools safely; for their schools to be safe places for learning and not to be used as bases for the military; for authorised civilian security to guard their schools and check that there is no danger to them.
Representatives of Borneo State Children’s Parliament
From commitment to practice
These children do not want to be scared any longer. They want to be able to attend school as a safe, normal, daily activity. When implemented fully, the Safe Schools Declaration provides that protection.
The Abuja Conference was a clarion call to accelerate the protection of education from attack to ensure every child and young person can enjoy their right to education
It is incumbent for the Abuja Conference to now deliver for the children of Borneo State and their peers in Nigeria and around the world.
At the International Parliamentary Network for Education this will be a priority for us and our member parliamentarians around the world as we continue to advocate for universal endorsement and implementation of the Safe School Declaration.
