In Africa, ten million children deprived of school by massive floods

Ten million children are being deprived of school by massive floods in West and Central Africa, says the children’s aid organization Save the Children in a press release published Tuesday October 15. The non-governmental organization (NGO) calls on donors to support assistance to affected populations. It urges governments and their partners to urgently offer alternatives to children deprived of school and to act to further protect schools from extreme events in the future.

“The unprecedented rains that fell on Nigeria, Mali, Niger and the Democratic Republic of Congo have worsened the crisis in the education sector, with schools damaged or destroyed, school buildings occupied by displaced and distant families schools »indicates the NGO. The floods displaced around a million people, she adds.

The ten million children stuck at home or displaced are added to the more than thirty-six million prevented from going to class by conflicts or poverty, including more than twenty-one million in Nigeria alone, she said, citing UNESCO figures. “In addition to seeing their families ravaged and their homes destroyed, children must see their education swallowed up by water”denounces Vishna Shah-Little, a regional manager of Save the Children cited by the organization.

Since the start of the rainy season, deluges of water have fallen over vast areas, causing floods and floods which have left hundreds of people dead and hundreds of thousands displaced in Chad, Nigeria and Burkina Faso. Faso, Mali, Niger, Guinea and Cameroon. They have affected millions of people, caused considerable damage to infrastructure and land, and increased the risks of disease and food insecurity.

Save the Children highlights that weather events are becoming more frequent and intense with climate change. To limit the increase in temperatures, the NGO is urging governments to quickly abandon the use of fossil fuels and stop subsidizing them.