In a bid to provide education for all and end the menace of street begging, a foundation, Al’Ummah Development Foundation (ADF), has launched Tsangaya Intervention Pilot Programme to sponsor 300 almajirai on western and Qur’anic education in Kano State.
The 300 children were enrolled in the three Tsangaya schools in Wudil, Kabo and Garo towns under the complete care and sponsorship of the foundation.
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Speaking during the official take-off of the intervention at the emir’s palace in Kano, the Project Coordinator and Chairman of the Kano Civil Society Forum, Ibrahim Waiya, said the programme would run for 12 months and would be funded entirely by the ADF.
He said the students would be provided with two sets of uniforms each, free meals, healthcare and all the necessary requirements for conducive learning and that qualified teachers were employed to provide quality education to the pupils.
“We cannot afford to allow more than 10 million children roaming on streets in the name of begging. So we have to come up with something that will change the narrative and provide a brighter future for these children. Only God knows what they are going to become in the future,” he said.
Waiya added that the goal of the intervention was getting the almajiri system reformed and discouraging the culture of begging, and that they were partnering with both state and federal agencies for the success of the programme.
“No child that is enrolled in the school will be begging and we hope before the end of the project, each and every one of them will learn some skills that they can develop on his own and ADF will provide a take-off grant for them,” he added.
The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Faruk, commended the ADF on the intervention and promised to partner with it under the Presidential Steering Committee of the Alternate School Programme.
Represented by a House of Representatives Member from Sokoto State, Balarabe Shehu Kakale, the minister said it was not possible to continue with the system of almajiri inherited for over 1000 years and that a programme like that of ADF must be adopted to address the menace of street begging.
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