Our vision is of a world in which every child is free to learn, whatever their religion. And where children are taught about our common humanity, rather than taught to hate.
I am a 12-year-old Christian.
I wish I could go to school but instead I spend all day inside.
We are here because some members of our community made trouble, telling my parents and others to renounce their Protestant faith. Their children began bullying me and my friends.
Our teachers were put under pressure not to include us and finally the school authorities banned us from going to school.
Eventually we had to flee our village, along with seven other families. Our homes and belongings were destroyed and we now live in a shelter together. We don’t have the paperwork we need to enrol in a new school, and local authorities won’t help us.
I stay inside, as it’s not safe to go out.
I am a 15-year-old Ahmadi Muslim. A few of the children in my school told the other students, “She is Ahmadi, don’t play with her or eat with her, and stop treating her normally.’’
They punished me, they used to strike me with sticks, and tell me not to sit with the other kids.
I haven’t told anyone in my new school that I am Ahmadi.
*Name changed for security reasons.
USCIRF, 2015
Minority faith communities are deprived of teachers and resources
Girls are abducted, forced to convert and marry
Students are forced change their name to hide their background
Schools are destroyed and teachers killed. Children are used as soldiers and suicide bombers
Children of religious leaders are bullied to get to their parents
Children are made to sit separately and use separate cups and soap
Children are beaten
National heroes from minority communities disappear from textbooks.
Textbooks contain false statements about minority faiths and foster religious hatred.
Children are marked down because of their faith
General Zia ul-Haq
Katarina Tomaševski, former UN Special Rapporteur on the right to education, 1 February 2000
I’m 17 years old and Sikh.
I loved my studies, but I was forced to leave school in 8th grade (aged 15) with no qualifications. One teacher would beat me with a stick approximately twice a week from age four to age six. After that the manner of the abuse changed. As well as physical punishment, I was mentally abused and humiliated by consistently being told to convert.
I couldn’t cope any more with the pressure my classmates and teachers put on me to leave my language, culture and traditions, and convert.
*Name changed for security reasons.
I'm 17 years old and a Christian.
I was taunted: 'You're not supposed to use the same glass as us, play with us, sit behind us at the same desk - because you're kafir (an unbeliever).' I had my own glass, even my own soap.
They said if I converted, I would be sent abroad to study, given financial support and government jobs, and would become a part of a higher social class.
I got mentally disturbed. I thought that I had to give up. But then I thought, 'No, I must raise my voice for my nation and for myself.'
*Name changed for security reasons.
Flickr (cc) jenny downing
In recent years, there has been a strong focus by the international community on ensuring the right to education of Muslim girls from deeply conservative homes in northern Nigeria.
However, one issue often goes unreported: Christian girls whose education is frequently cut short by abduction, forcible conversion and underage marriage without parental consent.
In more remote areas of central and northern Nigeria, state governments often neglect the educational needs of children from religious minority communities, leaving them woefully inadequate teaching and resources.
I am from Wawar Kaza village in Kankara, Katsina State.
I was 14 years old and on my way home from school in August 2016, when men abducted me. At that time, I had just passed my Junior Secondary School Certificate Examination (JSSCE) with flying colours, and was starting Senior Secondary School.
I was forced to convert and to marry my abductor, Jamilu Lawal, with the alleged endorsement of the Emir of Katsina, Alhaji (Dr) Abdulmumini Kabir Usman. My father went to the Emir and begged for my return, but was humiliated and rejected.
I am 15 years old and live in Kwate village, in Kaduna State. It’s one of two Christian communities for miles around.
Although my village is only seven miles away from the state capital, the road is so bad that it takes an hour and a half to reach it by car. The road also crosses a river, which becomes impassable when it rains (the bridge was washed away and hasn’t been rebuilt).
Most of the 80 children in my village don’t go to school. And the few who complete primary school don’t go on to secondary school.
The nearby Unguwan Kanti primary school has only one teacher for 150 students. The other teacher lives in the capital and rarely turns up so we only had lessons every other day. The building gets very dusty, because there are no windows or doors and until recently students sat on ground. Seven of us decided to go to a school an hour’s walk away instead, where there are eight teachers for around 200 students (but which also means crossing the river). When the river rises, we can’t go and are marked absent.
I’m still not able to read. I wish the road could be made passable and the bridge rebuilt, so teachers can reach my community.
*Name changed for security reasons.
One of Boko Haram’s key beliefs is that western education is a threat to Islam. Consequently, the Islamic State (IS, Daesh) affiliate has frequently targeted schools, killing teachers and pupils alike. According to UNICEF, Boko Haram has destroyed almost 1,400 schools and murdered over 2,295 teachers since 2009.
In several Shari’a states, Christian parents say their children have had to adopt Muslim-sounding names – and even adopt Muslim practices at school – in order to receive state education.
Atheists also report some cases of discrimination at school and, although discrimination against Muslims appears less common, some cases have been reported in southern states, including a ban (since overturned) on wearing the hijab.
Christian Solidarity Worldwide
CSW UK Office: PO Box 99, New Malden, Surrey, KT3 3YF
T: 0845 456 5464
F: 020 8942 8821
E: admin@csw.org.uk
CSW also has offices in Brussels and Washington DC
Charity Commission no 281836