For the families in Southern Borno, school has become a place of fear.
Every morning, parents once watched their children leave home with books, uniforms, and dreams of a better future.
But for some families in Mussa and Lassa communities, those ordinary journeys to school ended with children being taken away by insurgents.
And weeks later, the question remains painfully simple: Where are our children?
That question has now prompted renewed calls for the military to intensify its search for dozens of pupils and students abducted from schools in Southern Borno.
The latest appeal came from Senator Ali Ndume, the former Senate Leader representing Borno South, during a visit to the Theatre Command, North-East Operation Hadin Kai, where he met with the Theatre Commander, Major General Abdulsalam Abubakar.
Ndume urged the military to sustain and intensify operations to locate the abducted students and reunite them with their families.
“We know you are making efforts, but because of the anxiety we all share and the length of time these people have remained away from their families, I have to continue to push for greater effort,” Ndume said.
“The people are anxious, and the families are waiting. We appreciate what the military is doing, but we will continue to appeal for greater efforts until our people are reunited with their families.”
His appeal reflects the growing anxiety among families who have spent weeks waiting for news of their loved ones.
The day school became a scene of fear
In May, suspected insurgents attacked Mussa Primary and Junior Secondary School in Askira/Uba Local Government Area and abducted about 42 pupils.
The children, who had gone to school to learn, were instead forced into captivity as the attackers fled the community.
For their parents, the disappearance has transformed everyday life into a painful wait.
School bags remain reminders of children who should be sitting in classrooms. Families continue to hope that the next phone call will bring news of a rescue rather than another demand or silence.
Then came another attack.
In June, insurgents invaded Government Day Secondary School, Lassa, also in Askira/Uba, abducting 36 students and a teacher.
The attacks exposed the vulnerability of schools in communities that have endured years of insurgency and raised fresh questions about how safe it is for children to return to classrooms in conflict-affected parts of Nigeria.
The incidents also brought back memories of a crisis that has haunted the country for more than a decade.
From Chibok to Mussa and Lassa
On the night of April 14, 2014, Boko Haram abducted 276 girls from Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State.
The girls had gathered to write their final secondary school examinations.
Instead of returning home after their exams, they were taken into the Sambisa Forest.
The Chibok abduction shocked Nigeria and the world. The global campaign for their release became known as #BringBackOurGirls, turning the plight of the students into one of the most recognisable symbols of Nigeria’s insurgency.
But Chibok was not an isolated tragedy.
It became a grim template for attacks on schools, particularly in northern Nigeria, where armed groups discovered that children could be used to terrorise communities, pressure governments, and generate international attention.
In the years that followed, schools in Kaduna, Zamfara, Katsina, Niger, Yobe, Kebbi, and other states were attacked, with hundreds of students and education workers abducted.
UNICEF said more than 1,680 children had been abducted while at school and elsewhere during the decade following the Chibok attack. The agency also documented 180 children killed in attacks on schools, alongside dozens of education workers kidnapped or killed.
The figures represent more than statistics.
Behind every number is a family.
A mother waiting at the gate.
A father making frantic calls.
A sibling sleeping in an empty room.
A classroom with one less chair.
