The establishment of classrooms or learning centres at the strategic locations or communities has been the best method through which western education spread to the nooks and crannies of human societies right from the inception.
Historically, the beginning of meaningful western education in Nigeria can be attributed to the activities of missionaries around the 1840s who took their ideologies to the targeted individuals in their respective domains. They were much concentrated on the southern part of the country, hence the region enjoys the rapid advancement in the spread of western education more than the northern part.
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As such, the new plan by Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation (SABMF) to introduce western education in Tsangaya schools in the 23 local government areas of Kaduna State is a great and welcome development worthy of commendation.
It is indeed a great setback for individuals or groups to be solely focusing on only religious studies in this generation where vast knowledge is needed to cope with societal demands. Sadly, most (if not all) of these Tsangaya school children have no means to acquire the formal education as expected by the government and relevant educational stakeholders.
The intervention of the federal government into the activities of Tsangaya (Almajiri) education system during the Goodluck Jonathan’s administration could not fully see the light of the day due to lack of proper collaboration of relevant authorities. Despite that the initiative was aimed at getting the almajiri children off the street, discourage them from begging and provide a conducive environment that could facilitate the effective integration of Islamic education system into western education, all the efforts almost went in vain.
However, this kind of gesture by NGOs and well-meaning individuals like SABMF will complement the efforts of the government in giving these less privileged children the needed western education.
Mohammed Aliyu Baba wrote from Kaduna
