SCHOOL SAFETY AND GIRL CHILD EDUCATION IN KEBBI STATE, NIGERIA

Research Problem The attacks and kidnapping of students in northwest Nigeria have affected the school safety and affects girl child's education in the area. Despite several school safety initiatives and security efforts, Kidnapping still persists in Kebbi State, northwest Nigeria. Methods/Theory The study is qualitative and presents evidence-based findings on school in Federal Government Girls College, Birnin Yauri, Kebbi State, Nigeria, aiming to guide policy and enhance school safety and girl child education. Utilising the cognitive vulnerability theory, the paper assesses how security threats affect education for girls in the study area. The study is based on evidence from in-depth interviews with 40 respondents in the Birnin Yauri community of Kebbi State, employing purposive and snowball sampling methods, with data analysed through thematic analysis. Results Findings show that factors impacting on school safety include lack of adequate security personnel and lack of proactive measures to avert an impending security threat from relevant authorities. Results indicate that the school's authority was alerted of the pending attacks which unfortunately and eventually happened. The attacks on schools have affected parents' and guardians' attitudes to enrolling their girls in school for fear of recurrence. Socio-economic factors such as religion and poverty exacerbated poor attitude to girl child's education in the study area. Conclusion The safety of schools in Kebbi State, especially the FGGC Birnin Yauri, has affected girl child education in Kebbi State due to the fear of further attacks and uncertainty with security concerns. Weak proactive measures by authorities to avert attack the school was responsible for the abduction. Key Contribution to Knowledge The paper proposes the political will and active community engagement in and ensuring school safety and encouraging girl child education in troubled communities. Recommendations The study suggests that the government should consider increased security deployment to all schools in volatile areas in Kebbi State to build safety and confidence in staff, students and community members in the area.