It’s overwhelming to discover that 9.5 million children in Nigeria especially in the North-West are Almajiris with no exposure to western education. In this exclusive, Kuni Tyessi challenges northern governors on the importance to make available, at least, basic education especially with its proto-type in Gagi, Sokoto State.
An almajiri is an individual usually within the ages of 6 and 15 but can be over depending on the circumstance. He is a child who has been sent away from home to a neighbouring village, state or country to learn Islamic teachings as charity is believed to start from home.
The Islamic scholar otherwise referred to as mallam whom the child is expected to live with is to teach him in the ways of Allah while the child goes out to fend for himself.
This was not the case when it first started and as taught by the great Sokoto jihadist, Uthman Danfodio. Historians can recall that it was basically for the elites of the society due to the high tuition rate as the masses could not afford to send their children to the scholars.
The story has changed in recent times as parents who cannot fend for their children hide under the almajiri system of education to send their children away from home without giving the necessary allowances which the mallam will use for the child’s up-keep.
It is no longer news that 9.5 million of them exist in the north with about 60 per cent in the north-west geo-political region. They are expected to be taken off the streets and given a better path to life through education which will be delivered in the local languages spoken in the region and later the imperial language. For example, Yoruba will be taught in Kwara State, Hausa in the North West, Kanuri in Borno State and so on
The federal government last week commissioned the first boarding school in the country under the Amajiri programme which is part of its commitment to the nation in terms of education for all by the year 2015.you will not be wrong to say that all traditional title holders in the north especially the north-west, travelled to the seat of the caliphate to get first hand information about the commissioning of the first of its kind and also to be a part of history.
All the states in the north apart from plateau state have been in support of the programme which will be handed over to state governments after commissioning.
However, the question asked by many is if the state governments will be able to maintain the schools in all ramifications especially in infrastructure, pupils welfare, construction of similar model schools based on funding from the federal government, provision of uniforms and feeding, recruitment of teachers and payment of remuneration after the federal government has designed curriculum for use in the schools, text books and buildings for the teachers who teach the pupils.
In order not to be pessimistic about the change that is about to happen in the education sector, many Nigerians do not want to answer the questions that have to do with the possibility of anything good coming out of the almajiri programme.
They have argued for and against the precedents of events that have happened so far in the history of the nation and are not too optimistic that all will end well.
The almajiri model school in Gagi, Sokoto State, cannot be shoved away in whatever terms as a thorough inspection of the school reveals that it has all the modern facilities and equipments needed for a standard boarding school.
They include an ICT centre, language laboratory, recitation halls, dining hall, primary science laboratory, well ventilated classrooms and hostels as well as plenty of space for recreation.
The pupils on the day of the schools’ commissioning were all excited to be part of history especially when they were told that the president was coming in their name and they were going to have an opportunity of meeting with him face to face which could not have been possible if the school was not established.
They already had feelers on the eve of the commissioning as they kept seeing strange faces coming in and going out of the premises while other were taking pictures and making attempts to speak with them.
They were dressed in their white school uniforms which were sewn from pure cotton material with also white caps to complement the uniforms and the typical Hausa dressing.
They had school bags mostly used by children of elites; brown sandals which is different from what they are used to which is the traditional bathroom slippers or no shoes at all and books to prove that they are indeed prepared to learn.??
Without mincing words, the children are set for school but will the northern governors support them as they should? Will they not hijack the schools and see them as too advanced or befitting for the almajiris? Can they protect it from vandals and vandalisation and what measures have they put in place to secure the safety of such?
What will be the criteria for teacher recruitment? Will the minimum be an NCE or graduate? Will they have female teachers as the school is exclusively a male affair? What are the state governments putting in place to ensure that should the boys stop at basic level, there will be something for them to fall back on in terms of capital for self reliance?
And should they want to make progress by improving the quality of their education, will there be schools for free or other options that will keep them busy and keep evil at bay from their young minds since an idle mind is the devils workshop?
If the governors in the north can truthfully answer these questions and set out modalities towards achieving them, then the north in no distant future will be able to catch up with the south in terms of education. The stereotyping that has been the bane of the north in terms of education will no longer be the lot of the region.
If all of the above can be achieved, then for sure Nigeria is on her way to eradication illiteracy and can begin to boast of fulfilling the challenges of 2015.ans only then can she claim to be on her way to becoming among one of the 20 economies in the world as no nation can progress without education neither can she run faster than her people.