Proprietors of Tsangaya schools under the leadership of renowned Islamic Scholar, Shiekh Dahiru Usman Bauchi has rejected the ban on almajiri system by northern governors, describing the move as callous, discriminatory and a conspiracy against Qur’anic knowledge.
They made this known during a two-day stakeholders meeting yesterday in Bauchi and vowed to challenge the decision of the northern governors, saying that the timing, especially using COVID-19 pandemic to ban the almajiri system of education was done with ulterior motives.
They identified the hurried repatriation of hundreds of almajirai to their states of origin by the state governors as an indication of ulterior motive under the cover of COVID-19 pandemic.
The meeting was also to impart COVID-19 training for Tsangaya scholars to ensure compliance to precautionary measures and strengthen the unity of purpose across the Tsangaya platform across the country with a view to mapping out strategies for the sustenance of the almajiri system of education.
A resource person at the meeting, who is also Secretary-General of Shiekh Abdulkadir Islamic Resource Centre Bauchi, Dr. Muhammad Mujtaba Abdulkadir said it was hypocritical for the Northern Governors’ Forum to ban almajiri system.
He asked: “Those that are banning people from seeking Islamic knowledge under the old system, what new system have they provided as an alternative? Why the northern governors ignored many programmes put in place by relevant bodies and agencies to enhance the Almajiri system?
“Why did they hurriedly jumped to pronounce the ban despite the move by the National Assembly to save the situation and calls for memorandum about the almajiri system so as provide a better alternative for the system?
He explained that the Northern Governors’ Forum was not serious for placing a ban on the system without requisite preparation and providing an alternative for millions of children on a system that had been practiced since time immemorial.
Other scholars who spoke at the meeting were unanimous in rejecting the governors decision, insisting that sustaining the ban was highly unlikely, saying they were planning to challenge what they described as injustice meted on the system and would make their position known in a communiqué after the two-day stakeholder meeting on Friday.
It will be recalled that on April 21st, 2020, the Northern States Governors’ Forum had during a teleconference meeting convened by their Chairman Simon Lalong of Plateau State placed a ban on almajiri system of education in the North, in an effort to curtail the spread of COVID-19.
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