Panacea to almajiri education system

Many Nigerians have come to terms with the traditional almajiri system, where children sent out for Islamic knowledge (almajirai) roam the streets begging for alms and scavenging waste dump sites. The system is an eyesore for the country and has constituted a great threat to the peace and security of Northern Nigeria and the country […]

Many Nigerians have come to terms with the traditional almajiri system, where children sent out for Islamic knowledge (almajirai) roam the streets begging for alms and scavenging waste dump sites. The system is an eyesore for the country and has constituted a great threat to the peace and security of Northern Nigeria and the country at large. It is regarded as a drag on the economic prosperity of the region. The system is often described as a keg of gunpowder ready to explode.

Recently, Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State said it is high time the northern leaders took a bold step to end the almajiri system of education in the region. Unfortunately, he did not make suggestions for the governors and leaders from the region to x-ray which of the suggestions could give us the much-anticipated succour.

Back in 2019, the then-president, Muhammadu Buhari, expressed his dismay about the system thus: “When I drive around the country, what upsets me most is the status of our poor people…you see the so-called almajiri, wearing torn dresses with plastic bowls. I think we, the Nigerian elite, are all failing.” Again, no solution was suggested!

However, it is worthy of note that not all the children on Nigerian streets are almajirai. Worsening inequality and chronic poverty have forced many children from poor families to adopt the almajiri style of street begging as a means of survival.

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Leaders have tinkered with a few approaches, but all turned out to be utter failures. Arrests and mass deportation were the most popular of such experiments. Chief Servant and the then governor of Niger State, Babangida Aliyu, piloted this ramp-up arrest and mass deportation, which was replicated by Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai (Kaduna), Bala Mohammed (Bauchi), Simon Lalong (Jos) et cetera.

However, no sooner had they taken the almajirai back to their respective states than they returned, and in some cases, with new intakes for their mallams. A cursory look at this approach shows that it would be a failure because it is practically impossible to prevent their return, as it will require continuous policing of roads and unnecessary delays for road users.

Preventing the regrouping of the almajirai after mass deportation will entail each road leading to a state to be manned, vehicles searched and questions asked about any pupil and young adult seen in vehicles. This is a cumbersome process and I do not think any state has the resources to police its roads like this. So, regrouping is inevitable and this explains its failure.

The second approach was the model by our then-president, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. A doff of the hat to him for that decisive step, not to end the menace, but to make the almajirai better persons. He established schools in the most endemic states to integrate Islamic teaching that the almajirai are sent out for with formal education (the so-called Western education). Unfortunately, this system also failed because the required money to maintain it was not available. Many of those structures are in deplorable condition today.

Thus, a more accountable process with a potential to reform or end the present ugly system is necessary. This proposal, despite its potential to reform the traditional almajirai system for greater accountability, requires the political will of the leaders from the region. As aptly observed by a recent Punch editorial, the almajiri system is a moral, social, and political burden that can neither be reformed nor ignored by society until the concerned authorities summon the courage and political will to confront it.

One major obstacle militating against ending the system is the complaint by Mallams (the almajirai teachers) that the state is denying them their right to educate the pupils and the pupils the right to acquire knowledge. Therefore, this proposal has taken into account the fundamental rights of mallams to accept and teach the almajirai (students) and also that of parents to send their wards to the mallam of their choice. It also has a stick component that, if implemented to the letter, could end the menace.

The state could enact laws that will mandate every intended mallam to host almajirai to have the name of the school and the school to be registered with the State Universal Education Board (SUEB). This registration should be free of charge to demonstrate the good intentions of the leaders. The SUBEB should use well-articulated criteria (see some suggestions below) to give the approval.

The criteria, among other things, may include infrastructure (for example, classes, dormitory) to accommodate the specified number of students each mallam wants to enroll; the resources or modality to cater for them; and a register for the students. The register may include the full names of the students, their fathers or guardians and a father/guardian’s functional phone number. Approval should not be given to anyone who does not have satisfactory responses to these conditions, and severe punishment should be spelt out for mallams who violate the terms of registration.

Child begging should be expressly banned in each of the states of northern Nigeria. The kernel of this suggestion is that parents will not send out their children if no one is to receive them.

The state should play a central role with mallams in drawing the timetable in such a way that it will have a provision for the almajirai to attend the so-called Western educational system or vocational centres where they will acquire skills alongside Islamic knowledge.

This is a clarion call for the northern leaders to remodel the traditional almajiri system where innocent children live in inhumane environments, engage in street begging, scavenge landfills and are available for recruitment by people with nefarious tendencies.

Education is on the current list and must be given the attention it deserves by all the tiers of government. The North cannot abdicate its responsibility to address its regional cancerous problems for the federal government.

Enough of lamentations and apportioning of blame by the North! The time for the North to take its rightful responsibility for addressing its regional problems and emancipating its people from the grip of poverty and backwardness is now!! The North must bridge the development gaps that always put it behind the South despite its enormous potential to earn the respect it deserves.

 

Tauheed (PhD), Department of Veterinary Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria