Zamfara takes education to almajiris
FROM ATTAHIRU AHMED, GUSAU

Thursday, October 29, 2009
The almajiri system of getting Qur’anic education in the North (a.k.a. Tsangaya ), has become a major challenge in the region. But the executive chairman of Zamfara State Universal Education Board (UBEB), Alhaji Mohammed Aliyu Anka, said concerted and practical efforts to tackle the menace have already started by the state government. He spoke with Daily Sun recently:

http://odili.net/news/source/2009/oct/29/501.html

“First of all, we are talking about age groups in the range of 0-6 and 6-11. In this part of the country, we have majority who fall within these age groups who are outside the school system. Because there are no facilities in schools which can accommodate them, it then becomes imperative for us to reach out to them. They are part of the UBE scheme and they are entitled to enjoy the scheme.

“So if we cannot bring those children into the formal school system, we have to reach them where they are. That was what necessitated the integration of the Islamic education system into the UBE.”


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Beginning of the system

“For a start, we have selected12 schools for the take-off of the project. So far, we have been able to give them some funding to be able to improve on their facilities like the environment where the children learn, where the children sleep, their general well-being as well as their feeding.

“Depending on the needs of each school, we have been able to render them support to improve on their own way because we don’t do it for them. What we do is to supervise and monitor how our funds are expended. We have reached a stage where we will build the capacities of their teachers and train them in modern school administration. As soon as the training is concluded, we will get some teachers from the formal school set-up and send them to the local Tsangaya schools to teach basic rudiments of English and Mathematics and some aspects of western education without disrupting their internal arrangement. To dismantle the foundation of the Quranic schools, we are closely working with the local Malams.

This is imperative because without them, we won’t succeed in our set goals. The lessons will be conducted in their places of abode under their supervision. As time goes on, we intend to introduce other subjects and also formalize the Quranic schools to meet universal standards.

“The funds are to be used to supplement existing infrastructure in those schools. They will be used to provide mats, reading materials, kettles, dishes, bowls, and other items found in such schools. The Malams have been instructed to properly monitor the movement of the children. None of his students should be on the street begging.”

Funds disbursement

“So far, the responses from the local Mallams have been positive. A development that necessitated the disbursement of the N6million to the 12 schools earmarked for the pilot project. The highest amount of N511,000 went to Makarantar Alaramma in Gusau, the state capital.”

Challenges

“In the past, we used religious and traditional rulers in the mobilization and sensitization of the people towards realizing the importance of the UBE to the overall development of education in the state. We have held stakeholders consultations at both local and state levels. In some instances among states in the North West geo-political zone of Sokoto, Kebbi, Kaduna, Katsina, Kano, Jigawa and Zamfara states. Many Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in the state have shown their readiness to go with UBE in the state. They have helped us in mapping our strategies even before we started implementation of the scheme. As soon as the programme fully started with all angles, the implementation was not difficult because the stakeholders were fully taken along.”

Involving the traditional rulers

“The state implementation committee of this pilot programme includes traditional rulers among who is the Emir of Zamfara, Alhaji Attahiru Ahmad Muhammad. The emir is very much interested in the integration process. At the emirate level, they have come up with polices to check the movement of children from one part of the country to another and from even outside the country into their own domain. They have devised ways of ensuring that those Mallams are prevented from moving out of a given locality with those children. At this stage, we have restricted ourselves to working with those Mallams who are stationed in one locality. We are dealing with people we know, we can identify most of these children, we know their parents and we know how to handle them. The only problem is that we do not have the facilities to bring all of them at the same time into the formal school system. That is why we leave them where they are. We have released only N12million to them, and it is helping the local Mallams run their schools without much difficulties.”

Success of the programme

“For the scheme to be successful, qualified teachers need to be hired to run the project. I used the world qualified because most of the teachers we had before are not qualified to teach in schools going by the provision of the National Council on Education.

Those teachers are going to teach in non-formal set up, they need special training in addition to their normal training. They need to also know that they may face some hostilities from some of the Malams, as such the need to be careful in their approach.”

Observers’views

Mallam Aminu Kanoma, educationist and commentator: “These (almajiri) kids follow their Malams to towns at periods when they are most vulnerable. The Zamfara initiative is good because the beneficiaries will be kept under watch and will be monitored by authorities concerned. I don’t know how the government plans to expand the project. The state Zakkaat Board should come into this full time. That is part of their objectives and hope they will join hands with the Universal Education Board to see to the success of the project.”

Commendation

The board has received commendation from all stakeholders in the way it has implemented the UBE curriculum in the state since 2005. Last year, another pilot project, aimed at boosting girl child enrolment into schools also received the endorsement and backing of Nigeria’s First lady, Hajiya Turai Yar’Adua. In recognition of Anka’s contribution to the UBE project, SUBEB chairmen in the whole country elected him as the Dean of the Forum of SUBEB chairmen. By the role, he is expected to serve as the link between his colleague and the UBE Commission in Abuja on matters relation to UBE Commission in Abuja on matters relating to UBE implementation. He is also to serve as the go-in between the Federal Ministry of Education and other stakeholders for effective delivery of basic education in Nigeria.