Rivers Governor Rotimi Amaechi on Friday advocated a change in the nomenclature of the Almajiri school to check possible stigmatisation of potential students.
The governor made the call at a special meeting on the Almajiri Education Programme chaired by Vice President Namadi Sambo at the State House, Abuja.
According to him, the word Almajiri, which is wrongly associated with begging, can be derogatory and could have negative effect on the psyche of the potential students of such schools.
“If that connotation is negative, it means that the child knows that I am here as a beggar and I have come to beg you for education.
“It is a right of every Nigerian child to be educated. So, I think it is better we call it migrant education or special education or whatever name you like and get Nigerians of whatever form to study there and be privilege to compete with our children.’’
Amaechi, who spoke in his capacity as the Chairman of the Governors’ Forum, reiterated the need to declare emergency in the education sector, particularly in the Northern region.
He said Federal Government should make available adequate fund to manage education in the North as a means to addressing the spate of insecurity in the country.
“There are two basic problems that are plaguing the country now which have degenerated into insecurity.
“The first problem is that of poverty and the second problem is that of ignorance, and we need to do something quickly in the area of education because the ignorance of the mind is extremely dangerous.
“You will be surprised and you wondered why these children are experts in the recitation of Quran and they are not experts in other fields. It means that they have the capacity to learn anything with the right information.
“The fact that they are not able to do any other thing outside the recitation of the Quran is because, we as a country, as a State and as people have deliberately impoverished them.’’
The Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence Sa’ad Abubakar III, who led other traditional rulers to the meeting, commended the Federal and State Governments for their commitment to the project.
The sultan, however, said that the Almajiri syndrome should not be seen as a peculiar problem of Islam but as a social problem.
He said every Nigerian irrespective of religion, tribe and tradition should work concertedly to address the social menace.
He assured that the traditional institution would support the programme to guarantee its sustainability.
Earlier, Kwara Governor Abdulfatai Ahmed had lauded the programme and called for its sustainability beyond the present administration.
Ahmed advised that the root causes of Almajiri syndrome which included; loss of family values, indiscriminate child bearing, should be addressed to nip the menace in the bud.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the Federal and State Governments, traditional institution and other stakeholders signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to re-affirm their support for the programme. (NAN)