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From Our Own Correspondent: What happened to the Chibok girls?

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Chibok School

13/04/2024 GMT

What happened to the Chibok girls?

BBC World Service - From Our Own Correspondent, What happened to the Chibok girls?

Nigeria pledged to care for the children Boko Haram abducted; their lives are still harsh

Nigeria promised to care for the kidnapped schoolchildren - but has it? Plus: youth suicide in the US; military service in Estonia; and China's boarding schools policy in Tibet

Pascale Harter introduces stories from Nigeria, the USA, Estonia and the Tibet Autonomous Region of China.

Ten years ago, the armed group known as Boko Haram abducted 276 girls from a secondary school in northeastern Nigeria. The country - and the world - called for their release, and urged the Nigerian government to "Bring Back Our Girls". But a decade later, more than 90 of them are still missing, and even among those who returned, many say their lives after the ordeal are still extremely difficult. Yemisi Adegoke went back to Chibok with one of the first young women to escape captivity. 

Like many countries along Russia's long border in eastern Europe, Estonia has been beefing up its military service regime - and increasing the demands made on its young recruits. Nick Beake joined them on some of the exercises being held in the country's freezing forests to hear what they want - and fear - for their nation. 

Rates of suicide have risen to an all-time high across the United States in recent years - with a particularly large number of cases among young people. The parents, partners and friends left behind are struggling to understand the causes, while colleges are working to try and prevent more deaths, says Will Vernon.

And in China, new policies on education and "national language" are eroding the basis of Tibetan culture, according to some families and activists. Increasingly, children from Tibetan-speaking families are sent to boarding school, where all teaching is in Mandarin Chinese. Micky Bristow explores what this may mean for the future of Tibetan. 

Producer: Polly Hope
Editor: Bridget Harney
Production Co-Ordinator: Katie Morrison





(Image: On the road outside Chibok Secondary School, Borno state, northern Nigeria. Photographer: Wahal El Saadi)

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