‘Plaiting louse-infested hair’ (II)
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- Category: Philosofaith
- Written by M. U. Ndagi
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There is need for government to, if the Almajiri Project is to record the desired success; embark on intensive public enlightenment to educate teachers and parents of the almajirai that Islam does not encourage begging. They need to be educated on the negative impact of begging upon the almajirai as well as their learning. Begging takes away a large chunk of the time which the almajirai could use in their Qur’anic studies. It also induces in them indolence, laziness and dependence on others. Begging exposes the almajirai to several deviant behaviours as they sometimes, in their search for food; meet kidnappers, “ritualists”, drug addicts, and other people of questionable characters. Begging also gives Muslims bad image.
The public enlightenment suggested above should include round-table discussions and workshops particularly for proprietors of Tsangaya schools and parents of the almajirai. Concerned authorities must ensure that such workshops are not turned in to tea-drinking sessions that will end up enriching government officials through Duty Travelling Allowances (DTAs).Government statistics of 10 million almajirai in the North sounds speculative. Official statistics published by the Kano State government in 2006, for instance, revealed that there were over three million almajirai in the state alone. How then could the remaining northern states including Borno, Sokoto, and Katsina states where the figures are not likely to be less than half of the figure in Kano state account for the balance of 6.5 million almjirai? Is the federal government figure the result of any survey conducted by the Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS); or the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC); or the National Commission for Mass Literacy, Adult and Non-Formal Education (NMEC); or by States Integrated Qur’anic Education (IQE) Committees?
Even when we take the official figure of 10 million almajirai for granted, it is obvious that the new initiative can only cater for just a handful of this figure. If government builds 100 Model Almajiri schools as planned for 10 million pupils, my poor knowledge of arithmetic tells me there would be one hundred thousand almajirai in each of the schools. We are not even sure if the real almajirai will have access to these schools because the faces of the pupils on the front page of Wednesday April 11, 2012 edition of Daily Trust newspaper do not look like the faces of almajirai that could be found in Shuni in Sokoto State; Dikwa in Borno State; Zaria in Kaduna State; or Zango area of Illorin, Kwara State.
Sustaining the Alamjiri Project is another disturbing factor. If government in the past thought of selling the federal unity schools because it felt they had become a needless burden; what assurances do Nigerians have now that the same government would not dump the Almajiri schools in the nearest future for dearth of resources to sustain them. This is why some people opine that the Almajiri schools have all the symptoms to go in the direction of the “failed” integrated Tsangaya system introduced in 2004 by the UBEC. What, if we may enquire, has also happened to the Qur’anic School Model launched by Vice President Namadi Sambo in December 2010 at Gantsa town of Buju Local Government Area of Jigawa State?
Even if government were to make the Almajiri Initiative free and compulsory as obtains in the UBE programme, parental care and support to children is crucial to the success of the project. The curriculum of almajiri education from the onset is originally to provide children with knowledge that will guide them from this world to the hereafter. This, however, has been turned in to an excuse to abdicate parental responsibilities. Some parents, due perhaps to socio-economic challenges of raising children, simply send them to Tsangaya schools far away from their homes with no provision for feeding and clothing. The itinerant teachers who do not practically have enough to feed their own family are left with no option other than let the children (usually in large numbers) beg for food and other daily requirements. Such children, most often, end up becoming moral burdens on the society.
This explains how some Tsangaya schools in Nigeria have rather become orphanages because some parents, out of irresponsibility, take children to dump with proprietors of such schools sometimes even without a slate or copy of the holy Qur’an which is the most important material required for learning and memorization. Some children are taken to Qur’anic schools here in Nigeria without a pair of slippers on their feet. Neither do such children have clothes apart from the one on their body nor bathing soaps. This situation which is common to most children in Tsangaya schools in Nigeria makes them vulnerable to diseases and hunger. In my view, it is a deliberate action by some irresponsible parents to make their children vulnerable. We are provoked to think this way because many parents take their children to Tsangaya schools in towns other than theirs, not because of the purpose for which such schools were established but because they see their children/ward as liabilities.
Almajirci is a regional challenge peculiar to Northern Nigeria. It therefore requires, to some extent, some deliberate regional approaches to tackling the challenge. The role of state governors in this part of the country is imperative to the success of the Almajiri Initiative. Kano state government under Malam Ibrahim Shekarau attempted to find a solution to the almajiri syndrome through a pilot Tsangaya programme. The scheme chose a Tsangaya school in each of the three senatorial zones in Kano State as a demonstration center for the pilot programme. The Tsangaya pupils under this pilot scheme were fed three times a day. The schools had enough boarding facilities including toilets, dining hall, and a clinic to cater for the welfare of the pupils.
Throughout the three months period for which the scheme lasted in the three senatorial zones of Kano State, no almajiri pupil from the three pilot Tsangaya schools was seen begging on the street. The reason was no more than the provision of all that each Tsangaya pupil needed to remain reasonably undistracted in school. Kano State government terminated the scheme after a successful trial of three months; the only reason being that the scheme was draining much from its resources. According to official figures published by the Kano State government, the sum of N13, 116, 080:00 only was spent on the feeding of a total of 3,700 pupils in almajiri schools from three selected Local Government Areas of Ajingi, Makoda and Warawa; between October and December 2005. We found it absurd when the government of Kano State considered the funding of the almajirai programme expensive. Government of all the northern states of Nigeria must show commitment to the education of this vulnerable group of children, the almajirai.
States in the North need to, through their respective houses of assembly, outlaw almajirci. This will check almajirci crossing from one state, within the region, to another. States must look beyond cost and establish Model Almajiri Schools in every local government area to discourage parents from sending children to other local government areas or states. Religious leaders should through their preaching and sermons encourage more responsible parenting. As a long term measure, Northern Governors must equally find concrete ways to reducing poverty in the region. May Allah (SWT) guide government to sincerely give Integrated Qur’anic Education System the attention and commitment it deserves, amin.
Articles
‘Plaiting louse-infested hair’ (II)
Category: Philosofaith Written by M. U. Ndagi Hits: 2626
There is need for government to, if the Almajiri Project is to record the desired success; embark on intensive public enlightenment to educate teachers and parents of the almajirai that Islam does not encourage begging. They need to be educated on the negative impact of begging upon the almajirai as well as their learning. Begging takes away a large chunk of the time which the almajirai could use in their Qur’anic studies. It also induces in them indolence, laziness and dependence on others. Begging exposes the almajirai to several deviant behaviours as they sometimes, in their search for food; meet kidnappers, “ritualists”, drug addicts, and other people of questionable characters. Begging also gives Muslims bad image.
The public enlightenment suggested above should include round-table discussions and workshops particularly for proprietors of Tsangaya schools and parents of the almajirai. Concerned authorities must ensure that such workshops are not turned in to tea-drinking sessions that will end up enriching government officials through Duty Travelling Allowances (DTAs).Government statistics of 10 million almajirai in the North sounds speculative. Official statistics published by the Kano State government in 2006, for instance, revealed that there were over three million almajirai in the state alone. How then could the remaining northern states including Borno, Sokoto, and Katsina states where the figures are not likely to be less than half of the figure in Kano state account for the balance of 6.5 million almjirai? Is the federal government figure the result of any survey conducted by the Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS); or the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC); or the National Commission for Mass Literacy, Adult and Non-Formal Education (NMEC); or by States Integrated Qur’anic Education (IQE) Committees?
Even when we take the official figure of 10 million almajirai for granted, it is obvious that the new initiative can only cater for just a handful of this figure. If government builds 100 Model Almajiri schools as planned for 10 million pupils, my poor knowledge of arithmetic tells me there would be one hundred thousand almajirai in each of the schools. We are not even sure if the real almajirai will have access to these schools because the faces of the pupils on the front page of Wednesday April 11, 2012 edition of Daily Trust newspaper do not look like the faces of almajirai that could be found in Shuni in Sokoto State; Dikwa in Borno State; Zaria in Kaduna State; or Zango area of Illorin, Kwara State.
Sustaining the Alamjiri Project is another disturbing factor. If government in the past thought of selling the federal unity schools because it felt they had become a needless burden; what assurances do Nigerians have now that the same government would not dump the Almajiri schools in the nearest future for dearth of resources to sustain them. This is why some people opine that the Almajiri schools have all the symptoms to go in the direction of the “failed” integrated Tsangaya system introduced in 2004 by the UBEC. What, if we may enquire, has also happened to the Qur’anic School Model launched by Vice President Namadi Sambo in December 2010 at Gantsa town of Buju Local Government Area of Jigawa State?
Even if government were to make the Almajiri Initiative free and compulsory as obtains in the UBE programme, parental care and support to children is crucial to the success of the project. The curriculum of almajiri education from the onset is originally to provide children with knowledge that will guide them from this world to the hereafter. This, however, has been turned in to an excuse to abdicate parental responsibilities. Some parents, due perhaps to socio-economic challenges of raising children, simply send them to Tsangaya schools far away from their homes with no provision for feeding and clothing. The itinerant teachers who do not practically have enough to feed their own family are left with no option other than let the children (usually in large numbers) beg for food and other daily requirements. Such children, most often, end up becoming moral burdens on the society.
This explains how some Tsangaya schools in Nigeria have rather become orphanages because some parents, out of irresponsibility, take children to dump with proprietors of such schools sometimes even without a slate or copy of the holy Qur’an which is the most important material required for learning and memorization. Some children are taken to Qur’anic schools here in Nigeria without a pair of slippers on their feet. Neither do such children have clothes apart from the one on their body nor bathing soaps. This situation which is common to most children in Tsangaya schools in Nigeria makes them vulnerable to diseases and hunger. In my view, it is a deliberate action by some irresponsible parents to make their children vulnerable. We are provoked to think this way because many parents take their children to Tsangaya schools in towns other than theirs, not because of the purpose for which such schools were established but because they see their children/ward as liabilities.
Almajirci is a regional challenge peculiar to Northern Nigeria. It therefore requires, to some extent, some deliberate regional approaches to tackling the challenge. The role of state governors in this part of the country is imperative to the success of the Almajiri Initiative. Kano state government under Malam Ibrahim Shekarau attempted to find a solution to the almajiri syndrome through a pilot Tsangaya programme. The scheme chose a Tsangaya school in each of the three senatorial zones in Kano State as a demonstration center for the pilot programme. The Tsangaya pupils under this pilot scheme were fed three times a day. The schools had enough boarding facilities including toilets, dining hall, and a clinic to cater for the welfare of the pupils.
Throughout the three months period for which the scheme lasted in the three senatorial zones of Kano State, no almajiri pupil from the three pilot Tsangaya schools was seen begging on the street. The reason was no more than the provision of all that each Tsangaya pupil needed to remain reasonably undistracted in school. Kano State government terminated the scheme after a successful trial of three months; the only reason being that the scheme was draining much from its resources. According to official figures published by the Kano State government, the sum of N13, 116, 080:00 only was spent on the feeding of a total of 3,700 pupils in almajiri schools from three selected Local Government Areas of Ajingi, Makoda and Warawa; between October and December 2005. We found it absurd when the government of Kano State considered the funding of the almajirai programme expensive. Government of all the northern states of Nigeria must show commitment to the education of this vulnerable group of children, the almajirai.
States in the North need to, through their respective houses of assembly, outlaw almajirci. This will check almajirci crossing from one state, within the region, to another. States must look beyond cost and establish Model Almajiri Schools in every local government area to discourage parents from sending children to other local government areas or states. Religious leaders should through their preaching and sermons encourage more responsible parenting. As a long term measure, Northern Governors must equally find concrete ways to reducing poverty in the region. May Allah (SWT) guide government to sincerely give Integrated Qur’anic Education System the attention and commitment it deserves, amin.