Governor Nasir El-Rufa’i of Kaduna State has warned that parents who enrol their children into the Almajiri system of education, stand the risk of prosecution of up to two years in prison.
The Governor who issued the warning when he visited some 200 Almajiri children that were repatriated from Nasarawa State and are undergoing rehabilitation and optical screening at Government College, Kurmin Mashi, also threatened to prosecute any Islamic cleric who enrols children into an Almajiri school.
According to him, such clerics will be jailed and fined N100,000 or N200,000 per child.
El-Rufai said that the repatriated Almajirai are citizens of Kaduna state, adding that the government would give them all the opportunities that they deserved to grow and develop.
The Governor who expressed satisfaction with the ongoing transformation of the Almajiri pupils from hopelessness to hope and confidence, promised that Kaduna state will do whatever it can to give them a better future.
“We will, therefore, continue to take delivery of every Almajiri pupils indigenous to Kaduna state for rehabilitation, treatment and enrolment into formal schools nearest to where their parents live.
“We will continue to do this until we clear Kaduna state of the menace of Almajiri system, which is not education but the abuse of the privilege and future of a child,’’ he promised.
El-Rufai said that the ultimate goal his administration is for them to acquire formal education without depriving them of the opportunity to acquire Quranic education.
According to him, ‘’they will continue their Quranic education but under the care of their parents and not under someone who does not know them or who was paid to look after them.”
El-Rufai explained that the Ministry of Human Services and Social Development (MHSSD), along with UNICEF would closely monitor them and ensure that no child would leave his locality until he finishes primary and junior secondary school.
The Governor stressed that every child in Kaduna state must get a 12-year free and compulsory primary and secondary school education, adding that ‘’those that cannot proceed to senior secondary school will have the opportunity to go to vocational schools, which are also free.’’
El-Rufai thanked the Ministry of Human Services and Social Development and other state agencies, including AMA foundation as well as other NGOs and civil society organisations, for their commitment and passion for the welfare of the children.
The Governor particularly expressed gratitude to UNICEF for supporting the state government in ensuring that all the repatriated children were well documented.
Hajiya Hafsat Baba, Commissioner, of Human Services and Social Development said that the state had so far received more than 900 Almajiri pupils from Kano, Bauchi, Plateau and Nasarawa states.
The Commissioner said that about 500 of them were rehabilitated, adding that those who tested positive to COVID-19, were treated before reuniting them with their families.
According to her, some 400 others were still undergoing rehabilitation and would soon be reunited with their families.
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