The signing of the bill to establish a commission to address the challenges of Almajiri and other out-of-school children by former President Muhammadu Buhari in the twilight of his administration was welcomed by Nigerians who have been calling for reforms in the Almajiri or Tsangaya system of acquiring Qur’anic education.
Buhari signed the bill on Children’s Day on Saturday, May 27, two days before he left office.
He also appointed Sha’aban Ibrahim Sharada, the outgoing member representing Kano Municipal in the House of Representatives to head the commission.
The bill was sponsored by a member of the House of Representatives, Balarabe Shehu Kakale (PDP, Sokoto) and 18 others.
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The objectives of the commission are to formulate policy and issue guidelines in all matters relating to almajiri education and out-of-school children in Nigeria as well as provide funds for research and personnel development for the improvement of almajiri education in the country, the development of programmes on almajiri education, construction of classrooms and other facilities relating to almajiri education and out of school children.
It is also to arrange effective monitoring and evaluation of the activities of agencies concerned with almajiri education; establish and manage primary schools for almajiri and out-of-school children.
In addition to these objectives, the commission is to establish schools in the settlements predominantly populated by the almajiri and out-of-school children; and co-operate with other participating ministries and agencies.
The commission is also to collate, analyse and publish information relating to almajiri education and out-of-school children in the country and obtain from the states and from other sources, such information as is relevant to the discharge of its functions.
It will also determine standards of skills to be attained in almajiri schools established by the commission, and review such standards from time to time, among others.
The almajiri or tsangaya system of education is a widely accepted and practised form of education in Northern Nigeria and many parts of West and North Africa and parts of Asia with significant Muslim populations.
In Nigeria, students of these schools are children and adults who left their villages and towns to live under the tutelage of a mallam (teacher) in their dozens for years to read, memorise and sometimes, write the complete Qur’an from memory.
However, with change in time, the system was exposed to abuses which prompted calls for reforms.
Part of the major problems faced was the ostracisation and categorisation of the students and teachers in the system as illiterates which put them at a great disadvantage.
The system suffers abuse as some parents send their underage children to the schools, sometimes very far away from home, without any provision for their upkeep.
An attempt to bring some reforms during former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration was made and many schools were built across the North specifically to enrol such students to be taught Qur’anic education alongside Western education in a controlled and built environment.
Speaking on the signing of the bill, its lead sponsor, Balarabe Shehu Kakale, said Buhari had given a good parting gift to Nigerian children of hope and a bright future.
“Honestly, I am so happy on behalf of the millions of Nigerian children and adolescents who for all these years, since independence or even before independence, have been cut off or ostracised in our educational policy.
“What this bill entails is about democratisation of education, as I have always said, in a contextual, flexible manner. Education is a structured system of transfer of knowledge and learning so that, you can be self-reliant, so that you can contribute your own quota to the development of your community as well as your nation. It is not necessarily about literacy or the ability to read and write.
“All we have been doing about the Nigerian education policy, is we emphasise literacy and English alone. So, this landmark act tries to really bring inclusion in education from almajirai to all other children who are out of school.
“So, what we are trying to do is to formalise this sector outside the former formal sector, because they have been lumped up as informal.
What stakeholders say
The National Association of Tsangaya Reciters and Memorisers of Qur’an’ commended the former president for signing the bill into law.
An official of the Sokoto State Government who was involved in the running of the reformed almajiri education project in the state, Dr Umar Altine Dandin Mahe, said they recorded a significant success in Sokoto as regards reforming the almajiri system by using a model suited to the peculiarities of the state.
“We conducted a baseline study to understand why other Muslim countries don’t have similar problems regarding this form of informal education. So we decided to look at various models in Asian countries sharing the same form of this education to understand how they were able to solve the problem.
“So, we came to understand that, the best is the bottom-top approach. These children were to be given a well-organised Islamic, entrepreneurship education and shaping their behaviour in line with the teachings of Islam.
“Tsangaya schools belong to the people, not the government. That was how it is being done in Indonesia, Malaysia and other places. The government only regulates and provides all the needed support. So, what has been lacking all along in Nigeria is a proper, regulated system.
“What the government has been doing is just to give temporary, unorganised support, but there is no agency or commission to regulate the system.
“Government can regulate and provide guidance and support, but it should not take over the schools; they should be left in the hands of the people who established them and know how to run them.
“So, we realised that, what was done earlier during former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration when tsangaya schools were built, the real stakeholders, the Islamic scholars who owned real, big tsangaya schools were sidelined instead of incorporating them or supporting them to run them in a reformed, modern form.
“That was why almost all the over 100 Tsangaya schools built are now empty because the real stakeholders were not involved. The people refused to send their children to those schools while the mallams (Qur’anic teachers) who are conservative have not been carried along.
“What we will advise now that the bill has been signed into law and the person that will head the commission has been appointed, we hope to see a system that will work. The main responsibility of the commission is to regulate and provide the template to work with and ensure that it is implemented.
“What I mean is that the Islamic teachers running the tsangaya or almajiri schools be trained and supported to work and run their schools while the students are also groomed to adapt to the system.
“The government must also support them through not only the commission but other agencies by giving all things like training and financial support that will help in running the schools.”
Dr Mujtaba Bauchi, who has vast knowledge of the tsangaya education, and is also involved in the running of one of the schools in Bauchi, said, they have made effort to make people appreciate and accept the reforms being brought.
“As a major stakeholder that has been actively involved in the struggle to reform the almajiri system, dignify the almajiri by giving him skills and better education, we fought for a long time to dispel some negative perceptions about the system.
“So, we came out to educate people about their perceptions about the almajiri system which has been in existence for hundreds of years but is now being abused and given a very disturbing negative image. This is because their focus is always on the small boys roaming the streets.’’
Omang Dave, who has been in the struggle to address the issue of Out-of-School Children (OOSC) in the southern part of Nigeria, said the passing of the National Commission for the Almajiri and Out of School Children Bill 2023 was a welcome development and another milestone achieved by the former President Buhari’s administration.
“For Nigeria to achieve the SDG Goal 4 of ensuring inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning, no sector must be left out, whether informal or quasi-formal. Education must be given the attention it deserves for which I feel the passage of the Almajiri and OOSC commission bill is the way to go”, he said.
According to him, the signing into law of the ‘Almajiri and Other Out-Of-School-Children Commission Bill’ will give more access to education to children who are engaged in informal education like vocational work.
He noted that children who are engaged in economic activities, like apprentices (Nwa boy) girl child without formal education; victims of social and environmental dislocation, natural disasters like the flood in parts of Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers states, children in IDP camps as well as unserved and underserved communities will be able to have access to education by every possible means.
