The girls were seized from their school at night more than three weeks ago
Nigeria's military had advance warning of the attack on a school at which some 270 girls were kidnapped but failed to act, a rights group says.
Amnesty International says it was told by several credible sources that the military was given more than fours hours' warning of the raid.
Fifty-three of the girls escaped shortly after being seized on 14 April, leaving more than 200 still captive.
The authorities have not yet commented on Amnesty's statement.
Teams of experts from the US and UK have arrived in Nigeria to help locate and rescue the abductees.
The abductions have sparked worldwide protests, like here in South Africa
Amnesty says the military in the Borno State capital, Maiduguri, was informed of the impending attack soon after 1900 local time - the school was attacked around midnight.
Despite the warning, reinforcements were not sent to help protect the school in the remote Chibok area, Amnesty says.
It says one reason was a "reported fear of engaging with the often better-equipped armed groups".
It is believed the schoolgirls are being held somewhere in the vast forested areas that stretch from near Chibok into neighbouring Cameroon.
Amnesty says a small contingent of security forces in Chibok was overpowered by the attackers.
Militant Islamist group Boko Haram has said it captured the girls, saying they should not have been in school and should get married instead.
Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is forbidden" in the Hausa language, began its insurgency in Borno state in 2009.
At least 1,200 people are estimated to have died in the violence this year alone.
In a video released earlier this week, Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau threatened to "sell" the students.
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Boko Haram at a glance
- Founded in 2002
- Initially focused on opposing Western education - Boko Haram means "Western education is forbidden" in the local Hausa language
- Launched military operations in 2009 to create Islamic state
- Thousands killed, mostly in north-eastern Nigeria - also attacked police and UN headquarters in capital, Abuja
- Some three million people affected
- Declared terrorist group by US in 2013
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