These Nigerian girls aren't afraid to go to school

GlobalPost
Updated on

These schoolgirls in Kano, northern Nigeria, say they are worried for their "sisters" from Chibok. But they feel safe at their own school, which has increased its security measures since the kidnapping last month of more than 200 girls in Borno state.

Terrorist group Boko Haram, which opposes Western education, abducted the girls from school, where they were staying to take a physics test. Chibok, a small village, is quite different from Kano, the second-biggest city in Nigeria, though both places have faced Boko Haram attacks of different sorts.

Marcel Krüger (Wikimedia Commons)

"This [kidnapping] is affecting me, because they are students like me," said Asmau Gaya Mukhtar, 15, who dreams of becoming a doctor. "My parents say I should be careful on my way back from school."

Follow Erin on Instagram for more photos from Nigeria.

Correction: This story has been edited to clarify that the girls in Chibok were not abducted while taking an exam.

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