On The National Commission On Almajiri,By: Nurudeen Dauda
By: Nurudeen Dauda
To begin with, there was a “Bill” for an Act to establish the National Commission for Almajiri and Out of school children which was passed and signed into law on the 27th of May, 2023 by former President Muhammadu Buhari. The Bill aimed at tackling the problems of Almajiri education which is predominant in the North and Out of School children in Nigeria.
The objectives of the commission are to formulate policy and issue guidelines in all matters relating to Almajiri education and Out-of-school children, arrange effective monitoring and evaluation of the activities of agencies concerned with Almajiri education, provide funds for research and personnel development for the improvement of Almajiri education, development of programmes on Almajiri education (Daily Trust, June, 2023).
Furthermore, the commission is to establish and manage primary schools for Almajiri and Out-of-school children, determine standards of skills to be attained in Almajiri schools established by the commission, and review such standards from time to time, collate, analyse, and publish information relating to Almajiri education and Out-of-school children in the country and obtain from the states and from other sources, such information as is relevant to the discharge of its functions among others. (Daily Trust, June 8, 2023).
However, it is apt to state that, the commission comes at a time when billions of “Naira” of taxpayers’ money were spent and are still being spent on the National Commission for Nomadic Education from its establishment in 1989 to date with little or no result. The “maintenance” and “expansion” of our existing conventional day government schools where parents pay school fees are being given little attention by the government. The upkeep of government Boarding schools where parents pay school and feeding fees is in the stage. Given the above, can this new commission get the required funding to be something different?
The ancient Almajiri or Tsangaya system of education does not depend on “begging” for alms for its survival; the ancient system was largely self-sustaining by the “parents” of the Almajiris in addition to what the system gets from Zakah and sadaqqah from the community. The practice existed for centuries even before the colonial conquest; it produced many scholars, judges, businessmen, etc.
It is a fact that the present system now largely relies on “begging” for alms on the streets of our cities unlike in the past where provisions from the parents of the Almajiris were used for the survival of the system. The problem is not about the Almajiri, the “whipping” and or the “neglected” child, or what he learns, the glorious Qur’an, as some people will want us to believe, but unfortunately it is about the inhuman condition he is being subjected to by the bastardized Almajiri system.
The modern Almajiri child unlike in the past is now a “victim” of his parent’s “negligence” whom the society needs to save. The present system encourages a total “abdication” of basic parental responsibilities, such as feeding, clothing, and sheltering etc.
Some of the major problems of the modern day Almajiri system are one, the system now largely depends on “begging” for alms unlike in the past where the “parents” of the Almajiris sent food, zakah, and sadaqqah to the alarammas/mallams who taught their children. The alarammas/mallams of the past were largely farmers who stayed in the villages close to their respective farms together with the Almajiris to cultivate the farms for their food.
Two, lack of accommodation unlike in the past when the alarammas/mallams who ran the system lived in their various spacious houses in the villages where the Almajiris were accommodated. Most of the alarammas/ mallams of nowadays live in the cities in a single tiny room with hundreds of Almajiris.
Three, lack of schools for the Almajiris. The olden days Almajiri system had this problem too where the Almajiris learned in an open place with their wooden slates instead of in the classrooms, but the problem kept on escalating. Fourth, lack of payments of school fees by the parents of the Almajiri for the survival of the system. The system is now being run as a complete charity; the parents of the Almajiris neither send food nor pay school fees to the alarammas/mallams who teach their children even though they are human beings with a lot of family responsibilities. Five, lack of healthcare facilities for the Almajiris. The system does not provide for medical facilities which is very important for human survival.
The ancient practice of the Almajiri system in the Hausa-land which involved sending children to far places was based on three major beliefs: (1) The Qur’an is a Holy book that no one can learn on a platter of gold, (2) No one can learn it under his parental “comfort” due to parental “pampering”, and (3) There were very few Qur’anic scholars found at that time. However, these major beliefs are no longer so now due to the passage of time.
The Almighty Allah has made the glorious Qur’an easy for us to read. It is a fact that our Islamiyya pupils from their parent’s homes are really doing great in terms of learning the Holy Qur’an. There are thousands of pupils who memorized the Holy Qur’an from their parents homes. There are now scholars of the Holy Qur’an in every home.
In my thought, the realistic way to reform the system is for the government to help the alarammas to set up standard schools with modern Boarding facilities and ask the parents of the Almajiris to pay schools and feeding fees for the upkeep of the structures and the feeding of the Almajiris. The government could as well help some of the alarammas to set up day Almajiri schools with enough classrooms in the form of Islamiyya schools where the issues of feeding and accommodations will not arise.
We must tell ourselves the truth that, children are responsibilities placed upon us as parents for that we must encourage every one of us to take full responsibility of our child not to shift it to someone else or the entire world. We must not fail to tell parents to take full responsibility of their children just as the parents who send their children to Islamiyya schools from their homes or send them to boarding schools do.
May God bless Nigeria!
Nuurudeen writes from Kaduna, nurudeendauda24@gmail.com
