29 children murdered in school

[Peasie]

In northeast Nigeria

[Gen]

western education is sinful


so disgusted when I first read of it. and this is not the first time them do something like this.

kmt.

[Wahalla]

the name literal means book forbidden....

[kia027]

was this a girls school?
So sad

[CeaBee]

No it doesn't seem to be a girls school

The attackers are believed to be from a sect of Islam known as Boko Haram, whose name means “Western education is sacrilege.”

Terrorists from Boko Haram and other breakaway groups are blamed for more than 1,600 killings since 2010, The Associated Press found. The attack on the school in Nigeria is one of several similar attacks against schools providing western education in the country.

I was talking to a Nigerian lady the other day who wanted to send her kids back for boarding school. Very sad.

[jah_yout]

wow! would love to hear Derek's take on this

[Wahalla]

In Chinua Achebes biography (There was once a country), he stressed the importance of boarding schools in uniting the concept of Nigeria from disparate ethnicity and language groups. he also emphasized the qualities of these elite schools in the anti colonial process... as well as the technical competency that its students had. It cuts the ties that bind to family and extends them to the family of alumni... Peter Abrahams also mention this...

I posted a good news peice on the lack of tribal conflict in Tanzania, (which missed something historical) and one of the factors was that the presence of boarding schools which Nyrere favoured. Castro also used the concept in The Isle of Pines; Isele of youth concept..

From a Jamaican perspective, Thwaites the noisest of our education mininsters since Edwin Allen and probably the only one with an original idea in his head, mentioned that he would like to see the development of more boarding schools in Jamaica. That they had value to force boys from sink urban commnities to become socialised in a more masculine environment

I confess I am not a fan of them but I have to acknowledge that if Nyrere, Abrahams, Castro, Achebe and Thwaites thinks they bring value then I am left with little room to argue.

Boko Haram will continue to do this horrors, but there is a cultural aspect of Nigeria that should be highlighted, the southern nigerians bought into the western education model...