2014 In Review: ■ Year of worldwide killings and weeping for our schoolchildren, our hope, our future

As a four-figure mathematical set, the year held much promise, at its beginning, of hope, of good things to come, but at the end, it had so much killings, so much disruption of academic calendar, of destruction of lives of our school kids, our future, packed into its rectangular-shaped bowel, from Nigeria to Niger Republic, Potiskum to Pakistan, that you are left wondering at the level of goodwill that 2015 is bringing with it to atone for the atrocities committed in the womb of its predecessor.

Not even our ‘time-tested’ seers, our prophets (God bless them) who make yearly predictions could foresee the callous killings and their attendant crying ahead of us. Otherwise, we would have escaped before they happened. And, you better believe it, if the philosophy and ideology guiding the terrorists’ jihad is anything to go by, then 2015 will fare no better. From whatever way you look at it, 2014 was a year of wanton killings and of heart-wrenching weeping for our school-kids whose lives were snuffed out in their prime by haters of Western kind of education.  Samplers:
Bunu Yadi, Tuesday, February 25
On this chilly night while the schoolboys of Federal Government College, Bunu Yadi, lay fast asleep, gunmen suspected to Boko Haram religious insurgents stormed the schoo dormitory. They threw explosives as they sprayed the rooms with gunfire. According to an eyewitness, some of students who tried to escape, out of the windows, for dear life, were slaughtered like sheep by the terrorists who slit their throats while others were gunned down. At the end of bloody spree, 59 of them lay dead, murdered in cold blood. The attackers also destroyed and burnt down 24 buildings of the school, leaving in their trails, some unceasing flow of tears from parents/guardians.
Chibok, Monday, April 14
Almost two months later, the Boko Haram Islamic militants, who had been terrorizing much of the North with impunity, despite the so-called state of emergency in place, struck at Government College, Chibok, Borno State, on Monday, April 14 and abducted 276 hapless schoolgirls who were there to write their West African Secondary School Certificate Exams (WASSCE), and vanished into the nearby Sambisa Forest with 234 of them, leading to, among the parents/guardians, some unending anguish of heart that has continued to exist till today, and, some tear-drops, some months later, from the First Lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan, and, thereafter, a worldwide campaign titled #BringBackOurGirls, for their release. Started by Mrs. Obiageli Ezekwesili, Nigeria’s former Minister of Education, she is sided by many kindred spirits, from across the world, such as Michelle Obama (US First Lady), Hillary Clinton (a former United States Secretary of State, Senator, and First Lady), Malala Yousafzai (the Pakistani teenage schoolgirl who narrowly escaped death in the hand of Taliban Muslim insurgents), Anqelique Kidjo (the Grammy award–winning Beninoise singer-songwriter and activist), Angelina Jolie (American actress, film director, screenwriter, and author), and all the US female Senators.
Kano, Monday, June 23 and Tuesday, Sept. 16
Scores were feared dead on June 23 when a high-calibre bomb said to have been planted near the Provost’s office, School of Hygiene, Kano School of Health Technology, located along Gida Murtala-BUK Road, exploded at about 2 pm while the school was in session. About three months later 15 students were confirmed dead, according to the Kano Police Command, and 34 injured when two suicide bombers from the Boko Haram militants attacked Federal College of Education, Kano, at about 3 p.m. of Tuesday, September 16. Giving an official account of what happened, the State Police Commissioner, Mr. Aderinle Shinaba, said that the suicide bombers had before their arrival at the institution, exchanged gunfire with some security operatives along Kafar Famfo-BUK road. “After the exchange of gunfire, they emerged at the college lecture theatre and detonated two explosives. There was another insurgent, who was carrying AK 47 rifle and explosives. One of the security operatives was able to shoot him and the explosive went off and killed him.”
Mexico, Friday, Sept. 26
On this very day, 43 male students, out of more than 100, from the Raúl Isidro Burgos Rural Teachers’ College of Ayotzinapa went missing in Iguala, Guerrero, Mexico, after they commandeered several buses and traveled to the town to hold a protest at a conference led by the mayor’s wife, over what they considered discriminatory hiring and funding programmes from the government, in which urban student-colleges were said to have been favoured above the rural ones. They, reportedly, clashed with the local police who intercepted, arrested them on the orders of the Mayor and his wife. But once the students were in their custody, they were handed over to the local Guerreros Unidos (“United Warriors”), a crime syndicate, who allegedly tortured, killed, burnt and threw their remains into a river. On November 7, 2014, the Mexican Attorney General, Jesús Murillo Karam, held a press conference in which he announced the discovery of several plastic bags containing human remains, of, supposedly, the missing students. One of the missing students, Alexander Mora Venancio (aged 19), was confirmed dead after his remains were identified by the forensic laboratory, University of Innsbruck, Austria
 Potiskum, Monday, Nov 10
A week after Boko Haram insurgents issued a statement denying any ceasefire agreement between them and the Federal Government, as was then claimed by the military/political authorities, they made good their denial by attacking and killing about 48 of the students, some as young as 11, who had gathered for the morning assembly, at Government Technical Science College, Potiskum, Yobe State, and, again, plunged parents, guardians and loved ones into mourning. Speaking from his hospital bed, where he was being treated for head wounds, Musa Ibrahim Yahaya, survivor of the bombing, recalled that, “we were waiting for the Principal to address us, around 7:30 a.m., when we heard a deafening sound and I was blown off my feet. People started screaming and running. I saw blood all over my body.”
Pakistan, Tuesday, Dec. 16 
One hundred and forty-five people, including 132 schoolchildren ranging between eight and eighteen years of age, lost their lives, and at least 130 injured, when seven members of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) entered the Army Public School located in the city of Peshawar, Pakistan and opened fire on the inhabitants. A rescue operation was launched by the Pakistan Army’s Special Services Group (SSG) special forces, who killed all seven terrorists and rescued 960 people.
But in Nigeria, besides these killings which took place, in spite of the launch, on July 17, of the Safe School Initiative Scheme, with the initial take-off grant of $20 million, there were other developments in the education sector, in 2014. They include the rampage, on January 24, by Lagos State University (LASU) students over the alleged decision by the Vice Chancellor, Prof. John Obafunwa, to deny them access to the school’s portal to register for the semester examination, after several extensions – violent protest which led to the closure of the campus; mass failure of students in both the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and the National Examinations Council (NECO) in May/June and Nov/Dec. exams; nationwide postponement of the resumption of new school session, following the Ebola scare; protests by students in Ogun, Lagos, Edo, Osun, Ondo,  Plateau, Enugu, and Ekiti states, over fee hike; closure, by National Universities Commission (NUC), in collaboration with Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and Department of State Security Service (DSS) of three institutions offering illegal degrees in Lagos and Osun States; disruption of academic calendar by Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) prolonged strike, the submission of report by the committee set up by the Federal Government to bridge the dichotomy between holders of the Higher National Diploma (HND) and university degree holders; the holding of National Council of Education (NCE) conference in Abeokuta, Ogun State and National Education Summit in Abuja, by ASUU, NASU, SSANU and NAATI, where far-reaching decisions that could affect the sector were taken and appointment of new Minister of Education and Minister of State for Education in the persons of Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau and Prof. Viola Onwuliri.

Written By Gabriel Dike and Sam Otti of The Sun  Newspaper