The Federal Government has been urged to empower the National Board for Arabic and Islamic Studies (NBAIS) with the mandate of setting standards for the regulation of almajiri schools across the country.
Secretary General of a non-governmental organization, Mu Kawar Da Bara, Barr. Umar Faruk Yakubu, who made the call in a statement also asked government to establish a board that would regulate and monitor the management of local rehabilitation centres.
He also said government should pay necessary attention to people living with disabilities as well as improve the quality of public learning institutions – primary and secondary schools – while taking decisive action in integrating the almajiri school system with vocational training centres.
In another development, another NGO, Almajiri Support Initiative (ASI) in partnership with Children and Youth Foundation (TEWOH) organised s training on basic skills that almajiri students can use to ward off attacks.
Spokesperson of the group, Ola Suraj, said the initiative was formed because of the alarming reports of abuse and abduction of children, especially Almajiri.
He said: “You can read in the media of these boys being kidnapped, abused and sometimes killed. This led us to invite an expert to train them in karate self-defense. This skill on self-defense will prevent such acts.”
He explained that the children are taught by professionals while those prone to violence are identified and exempted from the training.
While urging them not to use it to harm anyone, he said they also organized sport activities for them to have fun and to know that there are people who love and will support them, just to stop them from begging on the streets.
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