42 escaped Chibok schoolgirls graduate from Plateau, Katsina schools

Forty two girls who escaped from Boko Haram after their abduction ‎at Government Secondary School, Chibok on April 14, 2014‎ have graduated from private schools in Plateau and Katsina states

through a joint sponsorship ‎by the Borno State Government and a non-profit humanitarian organization, Girl Child Concern, chaired by Dr Mairo Mandara, a foremost advocate of girl-child education in Nigeria.

The girls were part of the 56 girls who escaped within days after the Boko Haram abducted 276 final year female students around midnight while the girls were writing the 2014 West African Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination. 

Governor Kashim Shettima attended a special graduation ceremony organized for the girls at A Class event Centre in Abuja yesterday morning. The event had in attendance, the 42 Chibok escapees and 34 other vulnerable girls exclusively sponsored by the Girl Child Concern with support from some humanitarian partners. 

Chairperson of the Girl Child Concern Mairo Mandara recalled that after the escaped girls went through psycho-social rehabilitation in 2014, ‎Governor Shettima gave her a special task of taking over managing the education of the girls.  

‎The girls were enrolled at Bethel International Christian Academy and Ulul-Albab Science Secondary School, Katsina for those who are Christians and Muslims respectively. 

Governor Kashim Shettima said on the occasion that the Chibok abduction had exposed the poor standard of public school education in Borno State which was his greatest concern.