A non-governmental organisation, KDC Foundation, has engaged Tsangaya school’ teachers, known as Alarammas, on a new curriculum to be designed for running the Tsangaya schools.
The foundation, working for the transformation of the Almajiri system of education, organised the engagement to discuss and sensitise the Alarammas on the new curriculum it has planned to design for running the Tsangaya schools.
The interaction, which gathered various stakeholders, centered on ways to mobilise the Alarammas to accept the changes in the curriculum.
Chairman of the Foundation, Khalifa Muhammad Dankadai, said the essence of the session was to hear from the Tsangaya school teachers about their perceptions towards the curriculum and also get their inputs to further improve the scheme.
He said “By analysing the inputs given by the Alarammas, it is assured that they accepted the system and are also ready to work with it when it is ready, which is our main concern.
“We are going to consider their views and we will give them free hand to run the system. Part of what we will do is to teach English and Mathematics and also teach the young children entrepreneurial skills so that they will stop street begging and always dress neatly like all other pupils,” he said.
He said they have engaged all stakeholders including the state government across 10 Tsangaya Schools in each of the 6 selected states in the North.
A lecturer from the Faculty of Education at Bayero University Kano (BUK), Dr Kamilu Ibrahim said there were indications that this time around the effort to reform Tsangaya School would succeed looking at the foundation laid for the program.
“This is entirely different from other past efforts because this one has engaged the Tsangaya teachers to play their own role and I’m very sure if it is well run, success is on their side.”
Also speaking on behalf of the Tsangaya teachers, Alaramma Malam Jazuli said they had witnessed a series of programs but none of them succeeded, adding that this was the first that invited them to be part of all activities of the project.
He said the Tsangaya teachers were ready to accept and work with the curriculum which the foundation promised to design.