Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 3 May 2018 to Question 137074, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that girls feel safe to attend school in Nigeria’s conflict areas.

Every girl has the right to feel safe when she goes to school. The UK and Nigeria have both endorsed the Safe Schools Declaration, which deters the military from use of schools and prevents schools becoming targets in conflict-affected areas. DFID is supporting the Government of Nigeria to implement the Declaration, including in the North East. DFID’s Education in Emergencies programme has trained community coalitions to monitor early warning signals of insecurity or attacks at schools and informal learning centres, has constructed or rehabilitated gender segregated toilet facilities in over thirty schools, and has already trained over 450 teachers to provide psychosocial support to over 25,000 girls and boys who have been affected by the conflict.