Editorial: Schools need more protection in NW, SW.

That, as usual, is in addition to their unholy Monday ghost towns when most schools in the two Regions do not open. 

As preparation to ensure an "effective school resumption", a phrase coined to pare down the impact of the separatist fiat, stakeholders in the two English-speaking Regions have been holding meetings to ensure students and pupils return to school in safety.

Last week, the Commander of the Second Joint Military Region in charge of the South West and Littoral Regions, Brigadier General Eba Eba Bede Benoit, after a security evaluation meeting with other defence and security operatives in the Region, said efforts were being made to ensure a hitch- free resumption.

Speaking to reporters after the working session with the heads of various defense and security forces, he explained that the meeting was not only to assess the security situation but also to develop strategies to ensure effective security coverage during and after the resumption of the school year.

In addition to reassuring stakeholders on the stability of the situation, the senior military official stressed the close collaboration between the various defense and security forces to respond effectively to any potential problem.

General Eba Eba added that the security situation in the educational community of the South West Region was under control and ready for the effective resumption of schools scheduled for September 9.

Earlier in an interview with CRTV South West, last July, the Governor of the South West Region, Bernard Okalia Bilai, announced that 90 percent of the activities disrupted by the Anglophone crisis have resumed. He also affirmed that insecurity, once a major problem, is no longer a major concern in the Region.

Going beyond schooling and confirming insecurity, the governor said the lack of enthusiasm to invest in the South West Region is due to the fear of returning, displayed by the sons and daughters of the Region. 

“No matter what we do, it seems that some people who are not yet back in the Region are rather intoxicating others. Those who are destitute, let them come because it remains empty; visitors are not here because the sons and daughters are running away; people who are not from this Region are seizing the opportunity; and those who are running away will come later; they will find that the place is already occupied,” Okalia Bilai said.

Meetings to ensure safe school reopening have also been taking place in the North West Region; where some selfish politicians of the South West, in their pseudonym to curry favour from Yaounde, claim the conflict has been confined there. But the recent killing of three policemen in Buea diminishes such false claims. 

There isn't any qualm that the conflict lingers and sporadically sparks in the two Regions. Countless meetings of stakeholders have been held, installation of security cameras in schools have been promised while security operatives have been deployed in some campuses, but some parents are still reluctant to send their children to school when the separatist lunatics in their caves and in the diaspora decree lockdown and ghost days.

As a result, schools, which like places of worship and medical facilities, are sacrosanct in any conflict, have become targets.

The United Nations Refugee Agency in its report of last May, noted that: "Schools have unfortunately been one of the main targets during this crisis...armed groups have attacked 48 schools and 18 health facilities between January and June 2024, disrupting essential services and depriving thousands of people of access to education and healthcare".

The report further noted that "the situation in the North West and South West Regions remained concerning, given the impact on civilians; characterised by attacks and clashes between parties, abuses, loss of civilian lives and injuries, kidnapping for ransom, arbitrary arrests, destruction of property, multiplicity of illegal roadblocks, demands for illegal payments and sustained use of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs)".

The humanitarian organisation further pointed out that there has been "an upsurge in attacks against education. During the second half of May, at least 10 attacks against education were recorded in the North West Region alone. The increase could be attributed to Non-State Armed Groups’ opposition to three main events: the examination session for the cycles of the First School Leaving Certificate Examination and the General Certificate of Education Examination (GCE), as well as the celebration of the National Unity Day (20 May). The call for lockdown was followed by attacks in several locations to ensure that it was respected”. 

Parents and their children remaining in the two Regions find themselves at another hinge moment as schools resume on September 9. 

They are grappling with the fundamental question of safety, which, though promised by the various stakeholders, remains hard to swallow.

How do we get from where we are to where we want to be, without being struck by separatist threats?

For The Guardian Post, the temporal solution is to beef up security in schools in the two Regions, while awaiting a permanent solution that has been repeated over and again. Separatists should also leave schools out of their struggle and be reminded that it is a war crime to target places of learning. We need not reiterate this.

This story was first published in The Guardian Post issue N0:3217 of Monday September 02, 2024