Terror Attacks: EU, UNICEF develop emergency response plan to curb deaths of children

As part of efforts to curb the rate of death among children arising from insurgencies, the European Union (EU) said on Thursday that plans were underway to develop an Emergency Preparedness Response Plan that will help protect children from dangers, bomb explosions, attacks and abduction within the Lake Chad regions.

The plan, when fully operational, will also help to train teachers in identification of risks, as well as help children in accessing education and protective services.

The EU Head of regional office in Cameroon for Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid, Mr. Yvan Hildebrand, made this known in a press statement issued and made available to Daily Times in Abuja.

He lamented that since the start of conflict in 2009, Boko Haram has killed more than 611 teachers and some 19,000 educators have fled from the violence and so the development of such intervention becomes imperative to help arrest the situation.
“Education is crucial for both the protection and development of girls and boys affected by crises. It can restore a sense of normalcy and safety, help heal the psychological trauma and provide them with important life skills and a space to play.

“With 1.3 million children displaced in this crisis, it is imperative to support schools so parents can get their children back in the classroom,” Ensuring access to education for crisis affected children is important, however opening schools is not enough. Children and teachers need to be equipped with knowledge and skills, to be prepared and able to mitigate the effects of something dangerous happening around the school premises,” he said.

He further explained that the programme addresses the complex nature of the crisis across Niger, Chad, Cameroon and Nigeria. Reducing the vulnerability of school systems in this emergency is a key part of the multi sectoral response that draws on expertise from Education and Child Protection specialists. In conflict situations, the education sector is vulnerable to violence and insecurity, so it is a particularly relevant area for Conflict and Disaster Risk Reduction.

As 1,261 schools remain closed across the four countries due to insecurity and fear of violence, Dailytimes reliably gathered 100 trainers have been coached by UNICEF to guide teachers through the learning process while almost 1600 teachers throughout the region – including over 800 in Cameroon, Nigeria, and Chad under this initiative – have received special instruction from their Ministries of Education to identify security risks with their students and work with communities to put in place and implement Emergency Response Plans. Community based child protection committee members have also been participating in the training with teachers, to learn to collaborate on risk reduction and to help teachers identify the available protective resources in the community.

While the project aims at mitigating the risks to children in schools and in the surrounding community, many dangers remain for institutions in the region. Schools are vulnerable to bomb attacks or even raids to abduct children. While direct attacks have decreased in recent years, there is still a high possibility that an explosion at a market near a school could disrupt education, create panic, or even cause family separation.

Mr. Hildebrand added that “as the conflict continues, it’s imperative that we scale up our response to ensure that every child can get to school and feel protected and supported,“With our partner the European Union we share a common agenda to mitigate risks and enhance the protective environment where children live, whether through the schools or the existing community systems.”
Recall that since 2012, the EU has scaled up its humanitarian funding for educational projects in crisis settings every year. For this 2017, it has dedicate 6% of the annual EU humanitarian budget to education in emergencies.”