Nigeria to reopen secondary schools in insurgency-torn state

Public secondary schools in Nigeria's northeastern state of Borno will be reopened next Monday, two years after authorities ordered their closure due to Boko Haram's insurgency, an official said Monday.

The reopening plan follows the completion of repair works on the school buildings, Inuwa Kubo, Borno State Commissioner for Education, told reporters in Maiduguri, the state capital.

Closure of the schools in Borno was ordered in March 2014, after some Boko Haram fighters attacked a public secondary school in the neighboring Yobe State.

Borno is noted as the cradle of the Boko Haram in Nigeria. In the past months, the Nigerian government had launched several military operations to eliminate the terror group's threats.

Kubo said primary schools in the state were reopened last year but the government could not do so for the secondary schools as they had to be used as shelter for internally displaced persons.

He said most of the schools that served as camp for the displaced persons were damaged by their occupants, a reason behind the government's plan to renovate the buildings.

The official urged parents and guardians to send their children back to school, while decrying the effects of the prolonged closure on the students. Endit