The Federal Government and stakeholders in Nigeria’s education sector on Thursday announced a new push to end the Almajiri street-begging crisis through a national policy that integrates Quranic and modern education.
The move was disclosed during a one-day presentation by Civil Society Organisations on the Revitalisation of the Almajiri-Tsangaya System of Education held in Abuja.
The Minister of State for Education, Prof. Suwaiba Ahmad, revealed that the ministry had commenced work on a national policy framework for Almajiri education, with plans to transmit a bill to the National Assembly for legislative backing.
“The ministry has already begun a process of developing a national policy on Almajiri and will also sponsor a bill to the National Assembly.
Every government, from Obasanjo’s time, had initiatives, but they were not sustainable, when another government comes, it stops.
The aim of the policy is to provide adequate mechanisms for the operation of Almajiri schools in Nigeria,” Ahmad stated
Components of the policy
Prof. Ahmad said the new approach will adopt a bottom-up model that involves local communities and state governments to ensure long-term sustainability.
“We want to ensure that each and every Almajiri, not only benefits from Islamic education, Quranic memorisation, but also has the opportunity to be a functional and effective member of the society,” she added.
- The proposed policy includes infrastructure development, teacher incentives, legal safeguards, and parental accountability mechanisms.
- The minister noted that support for the reform has been received from the National Security Adviser, state governors, and legislators.
She further highlighted the administration’s ongoing educational investments:
“The present administration has made outstanding educational investments, constructing 7,200 new schools, renovating 195,000 classrooms, producing 1,680,000 school furniture, training one million teachers, supplying two million teaching aids, and distributing 103 million textbooks,” she stated
Disturbing cases highlight urgency
Executive Secretary of the National Commission for Almajiri and Out-of-School Children Education (NCAOOSCE), Dr Muhammad Idris, gave harrowing accounts of abuse and neglect suffered by Almajiri children.
“Guzeiru lost his two eyes in the quest to memorise Quran.
Abdullahi, a 12-year-old boy, was battling with his health last three months in Kano because he was sodomised by his master in his attempt to feed him.
I met Ibrahim last year around 11 p.m., in Abuja, having been beaten by the rain of that day, crying, he said, ‘I couldn’t eat in the last 24 hours,’ he noted
Dr Idris commended President Bola Tinubu and the education ministry for prioritising Almajiri education reform, while calling for collective action to end systemic neglect.
Civil society demands data, legal support
Country Director of PLAN International, Charles Usie, stressed the need for accurate data and legislative support to make Almajiri reforms effective.
“You can only have so many policies that don’t make sense if you don’t bring them to action. Once there is no policy legislation, the government doesn’t prioritise it,” he said.
- Usie disclosed that the organisation had launched pilot programmes in Sokoto and Adamawa states to test a hybrid model combining Quranic instruction with basic literacy and science.
“We have shown that this model works, but we need policy backing and accurate data,” he said.
He also urged the Almajiri Commission to resolve discrepancies in statistics between UNESCO and UBEC, which have stalled progress for years.
