‘How to make Qur’anic schools better’

Alaramma Yahaya Isma’il Salihu of Giginyu Quarters, Nassarawa Local Government Area of Kano State, has spent up to 60 years running the Qur’anic schools he inherited from his father. In this Interview, the cleric enumerated some of the major challenges such schools are facing.   The Qur’anic system of education has been practised in northern […]

Alaramma Yahaya Isma’il Salihu of Giginyu Quarters, Nassarawa Local Government Area of Kano State, has spent up to 60 years running the Qur’anic schools he inherited from his father. In this Interview, the cleric enumerated some of the major challenges such schools are facing.

 

The Qur’anic system of education has been practised in northern Nigeria for decades, what can be done to improve it?

First of all, I think there’s lack of recognition and support, especially on the part of the government. These are the key factors that are making this system of education not to progress when compared with western education. Qur’anic schools are not receiving any support from the government at all levels. Local, state and federal governments are not supporting our schools despite our contributions to the society.

 Again, if the parents who are sending their children to our schools could extend support to such schools, things would have been better. Take the issue of feeding alone – no single parent is supporting us with foodstuff that would take care of both the pupils and teachers. Parents will just bring their children here and leave. They don’t know how these children are living their lives.  Nobody knows how the teachers are surviving. The teachers need support from both the government and the society to sustain themselves, families and the school itself. So, the parents have a greater role to play in the area of welfare, including feeding and upkeep for their children.

It would be good if the parents can provide food for their children and take care of the medical treatment whenever the need arises. So, it is good for the parents to support the schools and the teachers as well. Their support will help in sustaining the schools. If they support the children, that will help in comforting them, and if they help the malams that will help him to have courage in running the schools.

 

What kind of interventions do the Qur’anic schools need from the government?

This is simple. The government should shoulder the responsibilities of the Qur’anic system of education the way it is shouldering the western education. In other words, the government should provide adequate structures, teachers, teaching and learning materials to our schools like it is being done to primary, secondary schools and tertiary institutions. The government should also include Qur’anic schools in its annual budget; I mean a certain amount of money should be allocated to the Qur’anic schools from the government’s annual budget. That will help in taking care of the needs of such schools.

The government should also give monthly salaries to the teachers of Qur’anic schools as it does to the teachers of primary and secondary schools. Presently, our teachers are on their own; I mean nobody is taking care of their responsibilities and nobody knows how they are surviving. We must feed ourselves, bathe, cut our nails and our hair. We must go to hospital when we are sick and we must feed our families, but nobody knows how we are doing all these. The primary and secondary schools are progressing because the government has recognised them and is supporting them, but in our case, we don’t receive such support from the government. I’m sure if the government can support our schools, things would change. The primary, secondary and universities are making progress because they are being supported by the government. This begging among our pupils, which people are complaining about, is being done against our wish, but there is nothing we can do because these children must eat food and the parents and government did not provide them with food. So, tell me how these pupils would survive if they did not beg. They must look for a way to get food to eat.

 

We have some few individuals in the community that are very helpful to the school. So, anytime we have sick children I approach them and they always help. The last option in this case is to ask the pupils to gather some money to help their brother because this is something that can happen to anyone of them.

I always encourage them to help one another in this kind of situation. However, if the sickness persists, I will inform the parents of the affected child so that they can come in and help the situation. Some parents take their children back home and others sponsor their medical treatment in Kano State. This largely depends on the decision of the parents. 

However, there are few good people in the society that are very helpful to Qur’anic schools. They are always helping us in indifferent ways; some provide us with food on a weekly basis, some provide the students with mattresses, blankets and other basic needs.

In this school we need adequate toilets even though the government has constructed a hostel with few toilets. I have over 300 pupils in the school with few toilets. Everybody knows the importance of toilets in an environment like ours; and lack of it can lead to a breakout of diseases among the pupils, but God in his mercy is protecting us. The government should come to our aid by providing us with basic needs, including toilets, classes, teachers and other needs.

The society should also intervene by supporting the pupils with clothes and other household items that will comfort them in the school.

Let me take you back to the issue of sickness. Health workers at hospitals also help our pupils by treating them free of charge. Whenever I take my pupil to hospital, the workers always render assistance to them in various ways.

 

What is the role of parents?

Sincerely speaking, they are not supporting us in this direction. They are only bringing their children to study the Qur’an; that’s all. I can confidently tell you that you can never see some of the parents again if they bring their children here until after the child completes reading through the Qur’an.

Very few of them will give you N500, N1,000, N2,00, and highest, N5,000 on the very day they bring their children; and that’s all. If that particular pupil would spend 20 years in the school, his father will never come to check on him. Parents don’t come back to the school in the name of checking up on their children. Even if a child is sick, his father would not come here until the situation becomes worse. Again, very few of the parents will call you on phone to find out the condition of their children. So, tell me how the teacher can shoulder this huge responsibility. With this economic hardship, how can the malam shoulder the responsibilities of 300 pupils? It is not possible. So we need the intervention of parents, the government, and of course, the society.

We need a befitting shelter, adequate food and other basic needs for both ourselves and the pupils.

The world should know that we are rendering services to the society; hence, we need support to effectively discharge our responsibilities.

 

Why is the system defying transformation efforts?

I think the approach, commitment and political will matter here. Sometimes, the government will initiate and introduce a good programme that will make an impact on the system, but along the line, such initiatives could not see the light of day due to a lack of funding or political will. In most cases, the same government that introduced the initiatives will kill them. For instance, Goodluck Jonathan’s Tsangaya boarding school is a good initiative for the Qur’anic system of education but after his administration the project was abandoned by various state governments. They could not sustain the schools; and that was how the project was murdered on arrival.

The federal government had spent billions of naira establishing the structures across northern states, but they were taken over by weeds and reptiles. The problem lies with the government, not the society or operators of the schools.