Why Almajiranci persists
The numerous problems bedeviling the almajiri system of education across many states in northern Nigeria have remained a source of concern, not only to those in the corridors of power but the society in general, Weekend Trust reports. Successive governments in various states have made attempts to address the diverse problem to no avail. Pupils […]
The numerous problems bedeviling the almajiri system of education across many states in northern Nigeria have remained a source of concern, not only to those in the corridors of power but the society in general, Weekend Trust reports.
Successive governments in various states have made attempts to address the diverse problem to no avail.
Pupils of these schools are generally homeless as there is usually no accommodation for them. In many of the schools, there is no infrastructure other than the house of the teacher (alaramma); hence, the pupils sleep in the outer rooms of the house, congested rented stalls or uncompleted buildings around their vicinity.
Weekend Trust further observed that it is only in few cases that one would see a Qur’anic school with hostels for pupils; and where they exist, they are normally overcrowded and in dilapidated conditions. And the plight of the almajirai is one of homelessness, disease and dirt, the opposite of what they ought to experience as students of the Holy Qur’an.
It is a common sight across northern states to see a cluster of almajiri pupils holding plastic bowls and roaming the streets begging for what to eat. They do not enjoy other basic necessities of life such as clothing, shoes and bedding materials. This is why they are always seen barefooted and in tattered clothes.
They also don’t even have soap to clean their bodies and wash their clothes; thus, they are perpetually in dirt with the resultant increased risk to diseases. The almajirai, especially the young ones of tender age, are deprived of the love, compassion, care and moral upbringing they deserve from their parents at this stage of their lives.
Weekend Trust learnt that begging was introduced to the system as a way of instilling discipline and patience among the pupils. For instance, some pupils, especially those from wealthy backgrounds, were sometimes sent out to beg in order to instill such virtues in them. However, after the colonial conquest, the economy of the traditional institution in northern Nigeria was bastardised; hence, begging became an integral part of the system.
It has also been observed that begging has taken away a large chunk of the time the pupils should have used in studying the Qur’an. Weekend Trust reports that since independence in 1960, successive governments at local, state and federal levels, as well as non-governmental organisations – domestic and foreign – have made various attempts to transform the Qur’anic system of education in Nigeria, but the situation has not changed.
It was learnt that the first effort was made by the defunct Northern Regional Government when it set up a special high-powered committee to carefully study the problems associated with the Islamic system of education and proffer recommendations. Among other activities, the committee visited a number of African countries to study the prevailing Islamic system of education; and at the end of their assignment, they submitted a comprehensive report.
However, when a military coup overthrew the regional government, the recommendations were never fully implemented.
Also, many agencies and parastatals under the Federal Ministry of Education have initiated programmes and projects in a quest to address the challenges faced by the Islamic system of education. For instance, the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) and the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) were given a mandate to provide access to qualitative education for all the children of school age.
Also, the Education Trust Fund tried to intervene in a positive way when it initiated a process of establishing, in collaboration with the state governments, a model Tsangaya schools in some northern states. These schools were expected to operate an integrated curriculum that emphasizes Qur’anic recitation/memorisation, together with the normal secular subjects in a conducive learning environment.
Other agencies, such as the National Mass Education Commission and the National Agency for Nomadic Education, have also, in various ways, made similar efforts to address the problems affecting the system.
The most recent effort by the federal government was during the administration of former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan when modern Tsangaya schools were built across 27 northern states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). The initiative was launched on April 10, 2012 in Sokoto State. The first school under this programme was commissioned in Gari in Sokoto South Local Government by the former president.
Also, under the programme, numerous almajiri model schools were either constructed or rehabilitated across the northern states. The schools were structured along three architectural models with specific targets.
Weekend Trust observed that many of these schools are currently being taken over by reptiles and weeds. Very few of them are still hosting almajiri pupils.
Malam Yusuf Ibrahim Warawa told our correspondent that one of such schools located in Warawa town, Warawa Local Government, is not functional due to lack of funding, adding that both the pupils and their teachers have vacated the facility.
Ibrahim added: “The care given to the teachers and their pupils was probably not enough to camp them in one place. It is better for the government to change its approach towards handling the Qur’anic system of education. I suggest the government should rather empower the malams with skills, capital and farmland to enable them sustain their schools on their own.”
On why the almajiri system of education is defying transformation, some Qur’anic scholars and clerics who spoke with our correspondent expressed divergent views.
Alaramma Zakariya’u Sa’idu, a Qur’anic scholar in Jahun Quarters, Bauchi, who has been in the system for over 60 years, told Weekend Trust that it would be difficult for the traditional Qur’anic system to be transformed.
Sa’idu explained that one of such reasons is lack of recognition by the government. He noted that while teachers, headmasters and inspectors of other schools are given monthly salaries, teachers and other stakeholders under the Qur’anic schools are not receiving anything from the government in the name of salary.
He added, “Also, under the western education, if you reach a certain level in the system, the government will provide you with a befitting house, a car and sometimes a house-help. In a nutshell, the government will shoulder all your responsibilities. But the story is different in our own case. Look at how dilapidated my house is after spending over 60 years educating people? You see the difference?
“If you hear over the radio that the government is awarding contracts for the renovation or construction of schools, it will either be a primary or secondary school, but not Tsangaya or Qur’anic school. In short, the recognition is not there; the government is not prioritising Qur’anic schools the way it is prioritising western education.
“Another factor is that under a democratic government, the highest a governor can spend in office is eight years, so even if he has passion for the Tsangaya system of education and awards contracts for either the construction of new structures or renovating the existing ones, you will discover that such projects might not see the light of day before the end of his tenure; and his successor may not necessarily have interest in such projects. Therefore, no matter how important the projects are, he will not continue with them.
“In Bauchi State, for example, former Governor Isa Yuguda had initiated laudable programmes and projects aimed at improving the Qur’anic system of education, but they all stopped after his tenure. So, lack of continuity on the part of government is another factor responsible for the backwardness of the system.”
Sa’idu continued, “Next to continuity is effective supervision because sometimes the people assigned to handle programmes or projects for Qur’anic schools are not honest. The government should, therefore, design an effective supervision mechanism that will ensure transparency and accountability in executing such projects. Sometimes the government will come up with laudable projects, but along the line, the executors will sabotage the efforts. A leader can only give directives for the execution of the projects, but the executors will do a different thing.
“People are no longer honest and trustworthy; they can go to any length in achieving their selfish interests. So, because people are not honest, anybody assigned to handle the affairs of Qur’anic schools will use the opportunity to loot public funds instead of improving the wellbeing of the almajirai and their teachers.
On his part, Alaramma Zakariya’u Muhammad of Patiskum Street, Jahun Quarters, Bauchi, said, “The Qur’anic system of education is not accepting changes because initially, our forefathers did not accept western education. When the system came into Nigeria, our forefathers dissociated themselves from it because they considered it as an opposite of the Qur’anic system of education, and up till today, that element of unacceptability is still there.
He said, “No matter how good something is, if it comes through that system, our people will not accept it overnight, maybe after they analyse it and find it to be good for them and their pupils. And that will take some time.
“There is also the fear of losing the entire Qur’anic system of education. Anytime you drop something you owned and accept a new one, if care is not taken, you may end up losing your own completely.
“Our identity is Qur’anic schools, and we have our curriculum, with which we are running them. So, if today we drop it and accept a new curriculum, there is every tendency of losing our own curriculum completely. The issue here is that, if for instance we agree to modernisation, obviously, the government will send its people, including teachers and supervisors, to work with us. Our fear is that these people would be placed above us; and gradually, they will take over the system from us.
“Had it been the government would allow the real Qur’anic malams who have the knowhow of the system to man it, we won’t have any problem with any transformation attempt. We don’t want a situation where we will accept a transformation and end up becoming followers rather than the captains of the ship.
“The thing is that anytime a government initiates an almajiri programme, it appoints its people as heads while the alarammas who are the real actors are followers. How can that work? There is no way somebody who doesn’t belong to a particular system can take it to greater heights.
“So, if the government is serious about improving the system, it should always accord priority to the alarammas in its activities. For instance, the alarammas should be allowed to man the system, being the principal actors” Muhammad said another contributing factor was that some products of Qur’anic education who attained high positions in the government were not helping the system to progress, adding, “Such people have a greater role to play in transforming the system because they passed through it and know what the alarammas can accept and what they cannot. They also know the appropriate method or approach to be used in convincing the alarammas to accept any new innovation aimed at improving the system. But the issue is that the government is not looking for the appropriate people to handle projects or programmes meant for the system.
“Again, our people, especially those who passed through the system, have their own problems. After attaining high positions in the government, they don’t look back to assist the system to grow. For example, our governors, members of the National Assembly, ministers, commissioners and heads of the federal and state government parastatals and agencies passed through the Qur’anic system of education, but after attaining those positions, they forget to come to the aid of the system.
“If this class of people can come together and exhibit a high level of commitment towards salvaging the system, things would have changed. This class of people is capable of providing enough funds that will change the system completely. One of the major challenges of the system is funding.
“We also need serious campaign to sensitise our people, especially the actors, to accept transformation. Let’s take the issue of introducing a curriculum for secular subjects, including English and Mathematics, to the Qur’anic system of education. What the government needs to do is to bring the people that passed through the Qur’anic system of education together with the alarammas to design such a curriculum.
“Even at that, the alarammas should not be relegated to appointments and participation; otherwise, the initiative will face serious resistance from them.
“Also, all the appointed special advisers, commissioners or people in other positions saddled with the responsibility of handling Qur’anic and Tsangaya schools should be allowed to discharge their duties without any interference. They too should fear God and accord priority to the progress of the system, not their pockets.
“In almost all the northern states, we have either a special adviser or commissioner for Tsangaya and Qur’anic education, but the question is: Are these people discharging their duties appropriately? Of course, they are not. If they were really doing their jobs, the system won’t find itself in the present situation. If in every state, 20 Qur’anic/Tsangaya schools were renovated and provided with befitting hostels, toilets, classes and other facilities within the span of eight years, from 1999 till date, how many schools do you think would be renovated? But because they are not doing the right things, we are still where we were 50 years ago”.
Another Qur’anic scholar in Kano State, Yahaya Isma’ila Giginyu, said that for the Qur’anic system of education to accept transformation, the government must shoulder all the burden of the system the way it is shouldering the burdens of western education. He noted, “The government should provide adequate structures, teachers, teaching and learning materials to our schools the way it is providing for the primary, secondary schools and tertiary institutions.
“Government should also include Qur’anic schools in its annual budget by allocating a certain amount of money for running them. Government should also give monthly salaries to teachers of Qur’anic schools as it does to teachers in primary and secondary schools. At present, nobody is paying our teachers; nobody is taking care of their needs, and nobody knows how they are surviving.
“As human beings, we must eat, take bath, cut our nails and hair. We must go to hospital when we are sick; and we must feed our families. Nobody knows how we are doing all these. Primary and secondary schools are progressing because the government has recognised them and is supporting them financially and otherwise. We don’t receive any support from the government. I am sure if the government could support our schools, things will change. Primary and secondary schools, as well as the universities, are making progress because they are supported by the government.
“The begging that people are complaining about is also being done against our wish, but there is nothing we can do because these children must eat. Their parents and the government do not provide them with food. So, tell me how they can survive if they did not beg; they must look for a way to get food to eat.”
On the welfare of the pupils, Alaramma Giginyu lamented that parents were not contributing for the welfare of their children. “The parents are not supporting the pupils with anything as welfare; they only bring their children to study Qur’an. I can confidently tell you that you will not see some of the parents again after bringing their children here until when they graduate.
“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 boy will spend 20 years in the school, his father will never visit the school to check on him. None of the parents are coming back to the school in the name of checking up on their children,” he lamented.
Sayyadi Ali Dahuru Bauchi, the director of the Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi Tsangaya schools, also told Weekend Trust that Qur’anic schools were resisting transformation because most of such attempts were not done with sincerity of purpose.
Sheikh Bauchi explained that right from the conception of the initiative to the appointment of the people responsible for its implementation, things were done based on selfish interests; hence the objectives could not be achieved. He lamented, “The system that has been in operation for decades, even before the colonial conquest, has been neglected, just few years after the conquest.
“After the colonial conquest, the colonial rulers planned to wipe out the Qur’anic system of education in 50 years. It accorded priority to western education above the Qur’anic system of education by apportioning salaries to teachers and other stakeholders working for the western education, while those working under the Qur’anic system of education were left without financial support.”
He continued, “Structures were provided for western education while Qur’anic schools were operating under trees and huts. And the system continues to experience this kind of treatment from one government to another. Up till today, it is being treated in this way. The system is only receiving support from individuals and the community. Only few governments support it.
“This is one of the reasons the actors of the Qur’anic system of education are always skeptical to accept any transformation attempts from the government, either at the state or federal level. For example, when some governments attempted to stop begging among the pupils of almajiri schools, my father, the late Dahiru Bauchi resisted the move.
“I can vividly recall that my father challenged the government at that time, saying that unless it provided the pupils with an alternative, its move would face serious resistance. At the end, the government suspended the idea. It was as a result of such moves that my late father came up with an idea of establishing boarding Qur’anic schools across the northern states in order to take the pupils off the streets.
“I can confidently tell you that presently, we have 600 boarding Qur’anic schools across northern states with over 120,000 pupils. And it may interest you to know that none of our pupils is begging for what to eat or any basic need. The schools, in collaboration with parents and philanthropists, are shouldering all the responsibilities of their pupils.
“So, there is no way the government, and indeed, the society, can neglect these pupils and expect them to fold their arms without finding alternative ways of survival. The government is not providing them with food, shelter and other needs but expecting them not to beg. That’s not possible; they must look for a way to feed themselves, get shelter; and when they are sick, they must look for medicine. How can they get all these? It is through begging.
“So the system is defying attempts for transformation because the initiatives and approaches are not well articulated and the executors are not sincere. If the government is sincere in addressing the phenomenon of begging among pupils of the Qur’anic schools, I believe it can achieve that within a span of five or less years. Let the mallams be provided with farmlands, farming inputs and capital to embark on farming to produce the food that can sustain them and their students. Let the pupils, and of course, the mallams, be trained in various skills to enable them get incomes for themselves. Let the schools be supported with structures and qualified teachers. And let the parents provide welfare for their children studying in such schools. With these, I believe the system would witness tremendous progress and accept reform attempts.
“If the government would recognise the Qur’anic system of education the way it does to western education, provide the necessary support to it and treat the mallams the way it is treating the teachers of primary and secondary schools, I am sure the mallams will accept any form of transformation from the government provided it will not tamper with or relegate the system. That’s for sure.”
However, a renowned Islamic scholar and the chairman, Council of Ulama, Kano State chapter, Sheikh Ibrahim Khlail, said the traditional Qur’anic system of education was not resisting any transformation in the actual sense; rather, the government was applying wrong approaches and methods.
Sheikh Khalil explained: “Whenever a government is making such transformation attempts, it will invite scholars from universities and colleges and ask them to handle the project; and these scholars will start humiliating the malams. When Kwankwaso set up his committee and appointed Gwani Yahuza Gwani Dan-Zarga, all the mallams accepted him because he is one of them and the committee recorded tremendous success in its assignment.
Parents speak
Mallam Aliyu Idris, one of the parents in Machiya village, Tsafe Local Government Area of Zamfara State who sent their children to Kano State for Qur’anic education, told Weekend Trust that he opted to send his three children – Musa Aliyu, Bello Aliyu and Ibrahim Aliyu to Qur’anic school because he could not afford to sponsor them for the western education.
He said: “All the primary and secondary schools in my community have been shut down for close to 15 years now due to persistent banditry attacks. So, if you don’t send your children to Qur’anic school, they will end up becoming either local miners or bandits. In this part of the state, we don’t have any alternative than to send our children to Qur’anic schools. And it is better for us to send them out of the state as they will be safe over there.”
Asked why they don’t provide their children with welfare while they are away, Idris said that with the present economic situation in the country, coupled with banditry activities, it would be difficult for them to send something to their children in the name of welfare. However, every year, the mallam goes to the village and collects some bags of assorted grains as support from parents. He, however, added that because of persistent banditry attacks, the mallam stays in Gusau while they take bags of grainsto him.
“Even at that, the mallam, instead of taking the grains to his family in Kano, rather sells them in the market here in Gusau and returns to Kano with the cash. That has been the practice since the beginning of banditry in Zamfara State. This is to tell you that our children are not benefitting from what we give to the mallam”, he said.
Corroborating what Idris said, Mallam Yusuf Muhammad Isa, another father who also sent his two children to Katsina State for Qur’anic education, said that going by tradition, parents were reluctant to provide welfare for their children while in their respective schools, noting: “Traditionally, any time we take our children to such schools, we must give the mallams something, particularly grains and some money for the upkeep of our children.
“And from time to time, we call the mallam to find out the condition of our children. If there is anything that requires our attention, we do respond in time. We expect the teachers to provide the children with some basic needs, such as soap, detergent, cream and some other basic needs that are not beyond their financial capability. But if something important comes up, such as graduation or medical treatment, we usually send some money to the mallam to cover the expenses.
“However, we don’t provide them with adequate clothes because sometimes such clothes go missing. But I must admit that we, the parents, don’t provide our children with adequate welfare. I am sure that if we can, it will really help our children because it will prevent them from going out to beg. If parents can live up to expectation in providing welfare to their children, that will complement the efforts being made by the philanthropists in supporting the Qur’anic schools.”
Another parent, Mallam Muhammad Inuwa of Fadamar Mada Quarters in Bauchi State who sent his three children to Darazo and Ningi local government areas of the state, said he won’t send his children far away as according to him, they need constant supervision.
Inuwa said: “I used to visit them every Friday. I visit Ibrahim and Hamisu in Darazo in the morning and in evening. I go to Ningi to see their younger brother, Yusuf. I thank God that they are all performing very well. And every week, I had to take something to all of them, depending on my financial strength. Sometimes I give each of them N2,000, but if I don’t have enough money, I only give them N1,000 each.
Sometimes in December 2019, the 14th Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi, implored Nigerians, especially Muslims, to give birth to the number of children they could cater for. Sanusi gave this advice while speaking at the opening of the 108th edition of the Islamic Vacation Course (IVC) organised by the Muslim the Students’ Society of Nigeria (MSSN), Zone B, held at IVC Permanent Camp, along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway in Ogun State.
Emir Sanusi, while speaking on the array of social problems bedeviling Nigeria, insisted: “The almajri challenge in northern Nigeria is not a religious concern, but a social issue that needs urgent attention. The almajiri challenge involves out-of-school children who are sent, often by their parents, to Islamic clerics to live and learn Quranic knowledge but often end up begging and doing menial work on the streets. Millions of almajri children roam northern Nigerian streets amidst efforts of local and federal authorities to solve the problem.
“Men should imbibe the habit of marrying the number of women they can cater for. If we continue this way, about 40 per cent of extremely poor people will be in Nigeria. Poverty in the South-West is 20 per cent, in the North, it is 80 per cent, Lagos is 8 per cent, and in Zamfara, it is 91 per cent. We have been talking about almajri for over 30 years. Why are people having families they cannot maintain? Why are people marrying wives they cannot maintain? The condition is that you are able to provide for your family.
“Instead of having many children, why not have the ones you can cater for? These are the fundamental questions we should ask ourselves. Most of these children roaming the streets will be adults in the next 20 years and they will be the ones recruited as political thugs by the politicians in the next 20 years if we don’t take good care of them now. This is my own advice that we must look at. These are not religious issues; they are social issues that need to be addressed.”
Reacting to Sanusi’s opinion, Sheikh Khalil said the emir analysed the issue from the perspective of social vices rather than the religion angle, noting: “We have to look at things from a broader perspective. The issue of polygamy has nothing to do with problems associated with the Qur’anic system of education. If you look at the number of pupils that are begging in Kano presently, you will discover that the majority of them are children of the displaced persons from Zamfara, Sokoto, Kebbi, Niger and Katsina states”.
“Most these children were sent to Kano by their parents in order to have something to eat, not for Qur’anic education. Go to the residences of the philanthropists that are giving meals to the needy, you will prove me right. You will find hundreds of such children lined up waiting for the meal”’. So, the emir’s stance is purely capitalism.
According to Professor Bashir Shehu Galadanchi, a former special adviser to the former governor of Kano State, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau on Tsangaya and Qur’anic educations, the most pervasive problem bedeviling this system of education is the lack of recognition by the different tiers of government, saying Islamic education of whatever form is not considered to occupy any meaningful position in the educational policy of the nation; therefore, those that pass through the system are not considered to have undergone any education at all.
Consequently, he added that resulting from the lack of recognition, none of the types of schools that make up the Islamic educational system receive any form of funding from the various governments, lamenting that they are either funded by community and individual efforts or not funded at all.
“Many of the problems these schools suffer from originate from lack of funding. Education is an expensive venture that always requires sufficient funding for infrastructure, teachers, and teaching and learning materials, amongst other forms of expenditure if it is to produce the right caliber of products. Given the poor state of funding for the entire spectrum of Islamic schools, it is no wonder that a majority of them are in such a despicable state.
Also, Prof Abdullahi Sule Kano of the Bayero University, Kano, said the most unfortunate thing was that the tiers of government that were supposed to shoulder the responsibilities of such schools: local, state and federal government, did not even understand the concept, yet they wanted to provide solutions to the problems affecting the schools.
He lamented: “How can they give what they don’t have? There is no knowledge research on how to understand the system and provide solutions to the problems associated with it; and where a lot of research has been done, they can hardly be taken seriously. Remarkable solutions are there in those investigations. You can learn from history, modernity and so on. And within the powers of the state, they can create a new policy for these schools, but our rulers are not interested in that.
“They don’t understand the history; and of course, they are self-centered. None of their kids will attend these schools; they don’t send their kids to the almajiri school; which means that they are not relevant to them; they don’t care about them. So, where there is semblance of care, it is not done based on knowledge. They created Tsangaya schools but treated them as separate schools in which their sons or daughters will not attend. That’s apathy. It is a separate education for a particular section of people.”