OUAGADOUGOU, Nov. 1rst (Xinhua) -- A total of 1,455 schools have been closed and over 200,000 pupils have been deprived of education due to terrorism attacks in Burkina Faso, the state-owned daily newspaper Sidwaya reported.
The newspaper quoted a statement from Stanislas Ouaro, the Minister of National Education, Literacy and Promotion of National Languages as saying that 1,455 schools were closed in 2019 against about 10 in 2017.
"From a dozen primary schools closed in 2017 in the Soum Province, the situation has deteriorated and gradually expanded to reach 1,455 pre-school, post-primary schools and secondary schools in 2019", said Ouaro.
"Sixty-two schools are still occupied by internally displaced people", the minister said.
The school closure affected 202,595 pupils and 6,276 teachers in the Mouhoun Boucle, Central-North, Central-East, Eastern, Northern and the Sahel regions.
Burkina Faso is faced with a worsening security situation in northern regions with almost daily terrorist attacks that have sparked a wave of panic in the country.
Since 2015, terrorist attacks have claimed the lives of over 500 people and displaced thousands of others in the west African country.
