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Education International
Education International

Ghana: Education unionists’ solidarity with abducted Nigerian school girls

published 4 June 2014 updated 10 June 2014

The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), one of EI’s national affiliates, has organised a meeting to demand the release of the kidnapped Nigerian girls and to support the girls’ right to education.

On 2 June, about 500 pupils and 52 teachers from 20 schools in Accra, Ghana, gathering in Nungwa, in Accra, to request the terrorist organisation Boko Haram to release the school girls abducted in Nigeria on 14 April and bring them back to their families.

The event was organised by the GNAT Gender Desk and involved teachers and pupils marching and praying, as well as speeches delivered by GNAT officials. The latter condemned the violation of these girls’ right to education, stressing that it was an obstacle to the achievement of Education for All.

Messages on placards called on the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and governments of bordering countries to join the efforts to rescue the girls, put an end to terrorism, and ensure that schools are safe, especially for girls.

EI: Global trauma at kidnapping

“The world over, we see education unions and the civil society urging Boko Haram to release the girls and condemning the kidnapping as an appalling act,” said EI General Secretary Fred van Leeuwen. “This shows how this has been lived as a trauma throughout the world. We want to see these girls given back with their families and community, and educated.”

You can express solidarity with the abducted Nigerian girls and Nigeria’s education personnel by posting messages via #BringBackOurGirls on Twitter, or Bring Back Our Girls on Facebook.