Amnesty International has strongly condemned the deadly attack on Government Day Secondary School in Lassa, located in Askira/Uba Local Government Area of Borno State, where armed men reportedly invaded during ongoing National Examinations Council (NECO) examinations.
The attack reportedly claimed the lives of two teachers and a student, while an unspecified number of students were abducted.
In its reaction, Amnesty International described the incident as a serious attack on children’s right to education, emphasizing that schools must remain places of safety.
“Schools should and must be places of safety, and no child should have to choose between their education and their life,” the organisation stated.
The rights group warned that the abducted students are exposed to grave danger and noted that persistent attacks have left many schools in northern Nigeria deserted for years due to fear.
According to Amnesty International, it has recorded at least 13 cases of school abductions since 2023, calling the trend alarming and blaming it on what it described as the inability of governments at all levels to provide adequate security for schools.
The organisation stressed that protecting children and safeguarding access to education is a responsibility of the Nigerian government, especially amid rising insecurity caused by armed groups across the northern region.
Amnesty further described the attack on the Lassa school as a serious violation of international humanitarian law, warning that repeated assaults on educational institutions continue to threaten access to learning for thousands of children.
It added that the growing pattern of abductions and attacks on schools reflects a broader crisis of insecurity in northern Nigeria, where many communities have endured years of violent attacks.
The attack on Government Day Secondary School in Lassa, Borno State, is part of a wider pattern of insecurity that has plagued northern Nigeria for over a decade, particularly in the Northeast. Armed groups, including insurgents and bandits, have repeatedly targeted schools, leading to killings, abductions, and the disruption of education.
This trend gained global attention after the 2014 abduction of over 270 schoolgirls from Government Girls Secondary School Chibok by Boko Haram. Since then, similar incidents have occurred in states like Kaduna, Zamfara, Niger, and Sokoto, deepening fear among students, parents, and teachers.
Human rights groups, including Amnesty International, have repeatedly warned that these attacks are crippling access to education, with many schools forced to shut down or operate under heavy security. The latest incident in Lassa has renewed concerns about the safety of schools and the government’s ability to protect children and education workers in conflict-prone areas.
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