In this photo taken Monday, Dec. 7, 2015, children displaced by Boko Haram during an attack on their villages receive lectures in a camp in Maiduguri, Nigeria. (AP Photo)
The United Nations children's agency says attacks by Islamic extremist group Boko Haram in northeastern Nigeria and neighbouring countries have forced more than one million children out of school heightening the risk they will be abused, abducted or recruited by armed groups.
The agency said today that the conflict has forced 2,000 schools to close, some for more than a year, in Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger. Some have been looted or set on fire by the militant group whose name means "Western education is sinful."
Insecurity also prevents teachers from going back to classes. And in schools that have reopened, classrooms are overcrowded.
Boko Haram's insurgency has killed about 20,000 people and displaced millions, according to Amnesty International.