By Guevanis Doh
The sheer helplessness of not being able to reach 21 screaming schoolchildren caught in the cauldron of fire and smoke with no escape still weighs her down.
More than two years after the horrific tragedy, the slightest hint of what she thinks is an unusual noise still makes her freeze.
"We were in the classrooms, it was 4pm, and the men had gone to pray at the mosque. The children were doing their classwork under the supervision of the teachers. Suddenly, we heard screams," Habiba says of the blaze that day at the Pays Bays school in Niger's capital city Niamey.
The flames ravaged the straw huts housing the school in less than 10 minutes. The smoke was so thick that nobody could make it to the classrooms to attempt a rescue.
"A man tried to go inside and save the children, but he fainted even before reaching the rooms," Habiba, director of the primary school, tells TRT Afrika. "The fire has become the story of our lives; we do not forget it. What is puzzling is that we still don't know the origin of this fire."
The investigation started by the government has not yielded any conclusions yet, at least no more than those opened before to determine the origins of the previous fires that consumed other schools across the country.
In Niger, hutted classrooms catching fire is a recurring catastrophe. At least 50 children have lost their lives in such fires over the past two years alone, the latest on February 6 in the southern region of Zinder, around 1,000km from the capital Niamey.
Three schoolchildren died in the blaze, rekindling the debate on construction of hutted classrooms in the country.
In November 2021, 26 pupils aged between five and six, had died in a fire that destroyed their school, built of wood, sheet metal and straw, in the Maradi region down south.
This was just seven months after the Pays Bas disaster, where the majority of the 21 victims were tiny tots under five.
Classrooms housed in straw huts are, of course, widespread in Niger. They compensate for the general lack of proper infrastructure, especially in schools like Pays Bas, which accommodates 1,250 students.
The fact that these kind of school shelters continue to be built despite the government prohibiting them causes indignation in the education sector, albeit to no effect.
The launch of the "Zero Straw-Hut Classrooms" campaign in July last year has just about begun skimming the surface.
Teachers take the lead
UNICEF pegs the number of straw-hut classrooms in Niger at around 36,000. The figure continues to increase as more than half a million girls and boys start elementary education each year, piling the pressure on already inadequate infrastructure.
Given the circumstances, the onus is on teachers to remain on constant alert to the possibility of fires.
Habiba and her colleagues at Pays Bas are relieved that their institute now has better, and safer, infrastructure.
"The tragedy really hurt us. Thank God, we no longer have straw-hut classrooms. UNICEF has enabled us to build another complex of classrooms that currently accommodates 439 children of CM (secondary school)," she says.
Post the April 2021 disaster, Habiba and her colleagues were so disillusioned that they contemplated resigning and giving up teaching.
"Our partners supported us a lot and advised us to stay put. Sensitisation and psychological assistance helped a lot. But to this day, whenever there is an unusual noise, we get worried and the children panic. We are constantly on the alert especially since the school is not fenced, and there is no security," she explains.
Rama Gouba, a parent whose three children survived the 2021 fire, has just one expectation. "The government must protect our children," she says.
Education without risks
The government's directorate of preschool and primary education has initiated a series of measures to end the recurrence of fires in schools.
"To get rid of hutted classrooms, the ministry of education has implemented a strategy to build alternative models that are durable, inexpensive and meet environmental and educational standards," says director Abdouramane Adama Brah.
"With the help of the government, we hope to fulfil this promise. Efforts are being made to ensure access to education for all."
But in the eyes of some parties involved in the education sector, the government lacks methodology.
Mahamadou Moussa, secretary general of the Association for the Fight against Child Labour in Niger (Alten), believes that "the government of Niger and its partners could have done better".
"It is a noble objective for the government to try and reach zero-hut classrooms, but what is missing is a methodical approach. Zero hut classrooms by when? Today, tomorrow? In 5 or 10 years? The government should be sincere with itself so that interested investors find a framework already in place," he tells TRT Afrika.
"If the government wants to build classrooms with solid materials, we need to know how much it would cost, zone by zone," he adds.
Till clarity dawns, teachers, parents and other stakeholders in Niger's elementary education sector have only one option: to remain vigilant for the safety of the children.
