Criminalise out-of-school school-age children

Every day in different parts of the world, millions of children don’t go to school. Of course, it’s not because they are all sick or their schools are incessantly closed. It’s also not because they don’t want to be at school. An estimated figure of 48 million children around the world would be happier if given the opportunity to sit and learn in a classroom. Nigeria alone accounts for 10 million children who are missing out of primary education. The term ‘out-of-school’ encompasses a wide range of realities which refers to children who do not have access to schooling or are not enrolled in school in spite of the availability of a school or are enrolled but do not attend school.
A school-age child may be out of school because she is a girl. He may similarly be out of school because of poor health, physical disabilities, natural disasters, migration or living in war zones such as currently being experienced by communities in north eastern states of Nigeria. In some cases, the schools aren’t just there. Government, sometimes for the sake of policy, only announces the establishment of a school without providing any classrooms. Children in such places are taught outdoors when the weather permits. More than 85 million school-age children in sub-Saharan African don’t have a classroom desk. The worldwide figure by UNICEF is put at over 400 million.
Of all the factors that could keep a school-age child out of school, none, in the opinion of this writer, is as humiliating as seeing school-age children washing vehicle windscreens for the sake of getting money to feed themselves. For instance, when you drive today around the city of Abuja, it is common to find school-age children waiting at junctions for vehicles to be stopped by traffic light which advantage they take to quickly wash the windscreen of one or two vehicles for anything they can get. Of course anything since the vehicle owner never asked for such services. Some people do not even give a kobo. UNICEF statistics indicate that there are more than 168 million child labourers, representing 11 percent of all children in the world, who are working instead of learning.
Anywhere I run in to such children, I drive them away. I do that not because I hold any ill-feelings against them as a vulnerable group but because I feel highly embarrassed by the height of irresponsibility among Nigerian parents especially those from the northern parts of the country. Most of these children are from the northern part of the country. I drive them because I am not happy seeing them as child labourers doing the job that is better done by someone big enough to earn a living. I drive them because I expected them, like my own children, to be seated and learning in a classroom or school environment.
School-age children are too young to be left to fend for themselves. At their age, they are supposed to be catered for by someone called a father or his relations because the education, shelter, feeding and healthcare of children are responsibilities placed by God on man. Any action that depicts a dereliction of this duty by a parent is not only a violation of the child’s basic rights but also a gross act of irresponsibility. It accordingly opens a gateway to many social evils that make a child more vulnerable than imagined. Besides, it is a grave act of disobedience to Allah’s injunction.
The worst harm a parent could do to his child is to deny him education or the access to it. While the provision of access to quality education is the social responsibility of government, ensuring that children are enrolled in schools is the sole duty of parents. Poverty in the case of parents and poor economy in the case of government are not tenable excuses to justify why any child should not be enrolled in school. Government at all levels and individuals as parents or guardians must be ready to prioritize education. If we invest more in education, poverty which is a major challenge confronting Nigeria is likely to be reduced at a faster rate because there would be long term health benefits, gender equality and other gains.
The Child Rights Bill was passed in Nigeria by the national assembly in July 2003, assented to by the then President Olusegun Obasanjo in September 2003 and promulgated as the Child Rights Act 2003. It is a legal document that sets out the rights and responsibilities of a Nigerian child; providing for a system of child justice administration. State and local governments have a responsibility of enforcing all aspects of the Act.
Out-of-schoolchildren is already a menace particularly in northern states of Nigeria. With the recent setting up of a committee by the Northern States Governors’ Forum (NSGF) to review criminal justice system in the region, it would be strategic and timely to criminalize the menace out-of-school of school-age children by incorporating relevant provisions in the penal code; as a means to tackling the nuisance. Education and unimpeded access to it is a fundamental right of a child in Nigeria. The usurpation of this right should thus be treated as a crime. Time is overdue for the NSGF to also enact laws that will regulate the traditional system of Qur’anic Education with a view to perfecting its practice; making it more functional than it is now. May Allah (SWT) guide us to care for the needs of our children more than we care for ours, amin.
Ashura:
The mix-up in the first paragraph of last week’s piece on this page on the New Hijrah Year which contradicted the last paragraph on Tasu’a and Ashura is regretted. It was a consequence of a work done under pressure in order to beat the deadline for submitting the column. As earlier stated and re-affirmed by Jama’atu Nasril Islam, today is Ashura. May Allah accept our acts of ibadah, amin.