Implementation of the Safe Schools Declaration and the Protection of Education from Attack in North-East Nigeria

Abstract

This paper examines the implementation of the Safe Schools Declaration (SSD) and the protection of education from attack in North-East Nigeria, with a focus on Borno, Adamawa and Yobe States. Protracted Boko Haram insurgency and broader insecurity have produced large-scale school destruction, teacher killings, student abductions and prolonged closures, leaving millions of children disrupted or with no access to education. Against this backdrop, Nigeria’s endorsement of the SSD and subsequent adoption of the National Policy on Safety, Security and Violence-Free Schools, the Minimum Standards for Safe Schools (MSSS) and the National Plan on Financing Safe Schools (2023–2026) are analysed as key steps in domesticating the global norm that schools must be protected spaces. Using a qualitative desktop research design, the study draws on document analysis of global reports by the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack, UNICEF publications, national policy instruments and recent MSSS monitoring data. Guided by norm diffusion theory, it traces how SSD commitments travel from international frameworks into national policy and, to a limited extent, into school-level practice. The findings show important progress in norm adoption and institutionalisation, including new coordination mechanisms such as the National Safe Schools Response Coordination Centre. However, MSSS monitoring reveals modest and uneven implementation: average state scores of about 41–42 per cent, only a small fraction of schools meeting most standards, and persistent attacks, abductions and closures in high-risk areas. The paper concludes that SSD implementation in North-East Nigeria reflects partial but incomplete internalisation of the protection norm and recommends stronger financing, security-sector reforms, community-based protection and improved data systems to close the gap between commitment and practice.