Boko Haram has singled out geography teachers in Nigeria as targets for assassination, according to a report by the Human Rights Watch.
Western education's principles of geography and social science contradict the teachings of group's founder, Mohammed Yusuf, says the Daily Telegraph.
Boko Haram believes the Earth is flat and that rainfall is an act of God and not caused by evaporation. As a result, it ranks geography teachers in Nigeria alongside security chiefs and senior politicians as prime candidates for assassination.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"Boko Haram insurgents have shown particular distaste for certain subjects like geography and science... Teachers of these subjects are targeted," says the report.
The report is based on interviews with more than 200 teachers, students and parents and documents a number of attacks on schools. Among them is an assault on the Mafoni Government Day Secondary School in Maiduguri, the regional capital of Borno, in September, 2012, when gunmen "set their sights" on the geography teacher, Malam Anjili Mala, says the report.
"In its brutal crusade against Western-style education, Boko Haram is robbing an entire generation of children in north-east Nigeria of their education," Mausi Segun, Human Rights Watch's Nigeria researcher told the Telegraph.
The report, timed to coincide with the two-year anniversary of the group's abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls from the town of Chibok, also criticises the misuse of school for military purposes by government security forces. Both Boko Haram and the government have had a devastating effect on the right to education in the north-east of Nigeria, it says.
Some 952,029 school-age children have been forced to flee Boko Haram violence in Nigeria, with around 600,000 losing access to schooling, the report concludes.
-
Political cartoons for December 6Cartoons Saturday’s political cartoons include a pardon for Hernandez, word of the year, and more
-
Pakistan: Trump’s ‘favourite field marshal’ takes chargeIn the Spotlight Asim Munir’s control over all three branches of Pakistan’s military gives him ‘sweeping powers’ – and almost unlimited freedom to use them
-
Codeword: December 6, 2025The daily codeword puzzle from The Week
-
Femicide: Italy’s newest crimeThe Explainer Landmark law to criminalise murder of a woman as an ‘act of hatred’ or ‘subjugation’ but critics say Italy is still deeply patriarchal
-
Brazil’s Bolsonaro behind bars after appeals run outSpeed Read He will serve 27 years in prison
-
Americans traveling abroad face renewed criticism in the Trump eraThe Explainer Some of Trump’s behavior has Americans being questioned
-
Nigeria confused by Trump invasion threatSpeed Read Trump has claimed the country is persecuting Christians
-
The disputed claims about Christian genocide in NigeriaThe Explainer West African nation has denied claims from US senator and broadcaster
-
Sanae Takaichi: Japan’s Iron Lady set to be the country’s first woman prime ministerIn the Spotlight Takaichi is a member of Japan’s conservative, nationalist Liberal Democratic Party
-
Russia is ‘helping China’ prepare for an invasion of TaiwanIn the Spotlight Russia is reportedly allowing China access to military training
-
Interpol arrests hundreds in Africa-wide sextortion crackdownIN THE SPOTLIGHT A series of stings disrupts major cybercrime operations as law enforcement estimates millions in losses from schemes designed to prey on lonely users
