Jihadist raids leave over 500,000 Burkina children without schools

AFP , Wednesday 5 Jan 2022

More than half a million children in Burkina Faso are unable to go to school because of attacks by jihadists, the government said on Wednesday.

Burkina childrens
Armed Islamists have forced the closure of 3,280 schools in Burkina Faso. AFP

Armed Islamists have forced the closure of 3,280 schools -- nearly one in seven nationwide -- affecting 511,221 students and 14,901 teachers, government spokesman Alkassoum Maiga said after a cabinet meeting.

The landlocked Sahel state has been battling jihadist insurgents since 2015, when militants started to mount cross-border raids from neighbouring Mali.

More than 2,000 people have died, according to a toll compiled by AFP.

The national emergency aid body Conasure says that 1.5 million people, nearly two-thirds of them children, were internally displaced as of November 30.

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