130 Cameroon Schools Closed Due to Boko Haram Fears

Carrie Dedrick | Updated: Nov 26, 2014

130 Cameroon Schools Closed Due to Boko Haram Fears

Over 130 schools have been closed in Cameroon due to Boko Haram concerns. The terrorist organization has recently targeted schools and colleges across Nigeria with bombings and kidnappings; officials closed the schools near the border as a preventative measure. 

Ministry of Secondary Education representive Monouna Fotso said, "The diagnosis is going on if there are some [schools] which are destroyed or occupied because some of the schools were temporarily occupied.” 

"I am telling you we are preoccupied, very preoccupied by this situation. It is the whole government, it is not only the Ministry of Secondary Education, that is preoccupied."

School administrators are planning to relocate some schools farther away from the Nigerian border. The move is a risk because Boko Haram is strongly against Western-influenced education. 

Fotso said, "If there are some localities where the situation is so bad, at the level of the government, we will relocate some schools. At that moment also, we will bring the staff and students to new sites. The objective of this Boko Haram is to traumatise our citizens."

This is not the first time schools have been closed in the region due to Boko Haram’s influence. Ashigashia was forced to close 30 percent of its school when the terrorists entered the city two months ago. 

Publication date: November 26, 2014



130 Cameroon Schools Closed Due to Boko Haram Fears