The Nigerian Civil War (6 July 1967 – 15 January 1970), more widely known as the Biafran War, profoundly altered the lives of children in Eastern Nigeria. One of its lesser-documented impacts was the collapse of formal education. With school buildings bombed, repurposed, or abandoned, and families constantly displaced, the war forced communities to improvise ways of keeping learning alive. Education became more than literacy: it was a symbol of resilience and survival.
School in the Midst of Ruin.
When the Eastern Region declared independence as Biafra in May 1967, schools across the region quickly bore the consequences of war. Many grammar and primary schools in towns such as Enugu, Aba, Onitsha, and Owerri closed entirely as frontlines shifted. Others were requisitioned as military barracks, detention centres, or refugee shelters.
The fall of Enugu in October 1967, and later the loss of Port Harcourt and Aba, triggered waves of displacement that fragmented the existing school system. Classrooms emptied not only because of structural destruction but also due to parental fear. With aerial bombardments, the risk of conscription, and the desperation of hunger, many parents deliberately withdrew children from school to protect them.
Informal Education During the War.
Despite the collapse of formal institutions, learning did not vanish. Parents and community members improvised alternatives:
- Private tutoring: Some families hired displaced teachers to provide lessons at home, often in exchange for food rather than money.
- Lessons under trees and in churchyards: Informal classes sprang up in refugee camps around Umuahia and neighbouring areas, where volunteers gathered children to teach reading, arithmetic, and writing.
- Scarcity of materials: Chalk and slates became rare commodities. Teachers sometimes resorted to charcoal, wooden planks, or old cartons as writing surfaces.
These makeshift arrangements were fragile, subject to sudden disruption by air raids or forced movement. Yet, for many families, they provided continuity, giving children a sense of normalcy amid chaos.
Interrupted Childhoods.
The war blurred the line between student and soldier. Accounts suggest that some boys as young as fifteen were recruited into local defence groups or militia units, drilling in schoolyards that had ceased to function as classrooms. In some areas, loosely organised youth groups were drawn into supporting the war effort, though this was not uniform across Biafra.
The result was a generation whose educational trajectory was disrupted or permanently cut short. Many children abandoned school entirely, only returning, if at all, years after the war.
Post-War Recovery and the Open-Air School.
When the war ended in January 1970, Nigeria’s leadership declared a policy of “No victor, no vanquished.” In practice, however, rebuilding education was slow. Many school buildings in towns such as Enugu remained damaged or looted well into the late 1970s.
Communities responded by creating temporary open-air schools. Photographic evidence from the early 1970s, along with oral testimonies, show children sitting on benches beneath trees, taught by volunteers who lacked proper facilities but remained committed to education. Wooden planks often served as blackboards, and lessons were delivered with minimal resources.
These improvised schools served as vital stopgaps during recovery. They provided literacy and numeracy while symbolising hope, signalling that communities could rebuild through education even after devastation. Later government-led initiatives, such as the Universal Primary Education programme of 1976, further reinforced these local efforts.
Long-Term Impact.
Research shows that the Biafran War left deep scars on the educational landscape:
- Academic delays: Many children fell behind academically, with disrupted schooling leading to lost years of formal instruction.
- Trauma: Exposure to violence and displacement affected concentration, behaviour, and emotional development. Few schools had psychological support mechanisms.
- Resource struggles: Even after reconstruction, schools faced chronic shortages of textbooks, equipment, and qualified teachers.
Scholars such as Amanze Charles Ihedioha have noted that parents and communities carried much of the responsibility for education in the post-war years, funding tuition, hiring teachers, and sustaining informal study groups.
Remembering the Silence.
Although the Nigerian Civil War remains a major historical event, its educational consequences are rarely taught in schools. Writers and artists, such as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in Half of a Yellow Sun, have highlighted aspects of civilian life during the war, but formal curricula largely avoid the subject. Much of what is known survives in oral histories, memoirs, and academic studies rather than official textbooks.
Author’s Note.
The story of education during the Biafran War illustrates the resilience of communities under siege. Schools as institutions collapsed, but learning continued in fragments: under trees, in private homes, in refugee camps. These improvised lessons carried profound meaning, affirming that even amid hunger and bombardment, children and parents clung to the belief that knowledge was a form of survival.
The post-war creation of open-air schools reinforced this spirit. Though resources were scarce and trauma lingered, education gradually regained its place as the backbone of recovery. The legacy of that era remains a testament to the human instinct to learn, teach, and rebuild, even in the darkest times.
References:
- Ihedioha, Amanze Charles. The Impact of War on the Education of Children in War-torn African Regions: Parents’ Perceptions. PhD Thesis, Texas Woman’s University, 2009.
- Njoku, Hilary. A Tragedy Without Heroes: The Nigerian-Biafran War. Fourth Dimension, 2013.
- Osaghae, Eghosa, and Suberu, Rotimi. A History of Identities, Violence, and Stability in Nigeria. CRISE, University of Oxford, 2005.
