National Education Policy Incorporates Almajiri System

National Education Policy Incorporates Almajiri System
Aliyu Othman, Jigawa

The Almajiri Education System has been integrated into the national policy on education to rescue about ten million youths that are out of schools in Northern Nigeria .

Nigeria 's Vice President Namadi Sambo launched the pilot scheme in Gantsa, Buji local government area of Jigawa state, north-eastern Nigeria , by laying the foundation of a model public-private school.

The Vice President said that the initiative would be a Public-Private- Partnership to ensure its continuity and sustainability. He said about one hundred of the integrated Almajiri schools will be built by September 2011 .

The schools are designed to serve as model institutions for the learning of Languages, Science, Computer skills, Quranic education and for skills acquisition by the teeming youths.

Minister of Education, Professor Ruqayyah Ahmed Rufai says all Nigerian children of school age would be provided quality education, irrespective of religion or family background, for the development of the nation.

The Executive Secretary of the Universal Basic Education Commission , Dr. Mahmud Modibbo Muhammed said the establishment of Almajir i schools would provide access to education for the target 9.5 million children that are out of schools.

Dr. Mahmud said the schools will not only educate the pupils but even the teachers will be trained at the centres.

The initiative is designed after similar programmes in Mali and Ghana , aimed at controlling the menace of children and teenagers who roam major streets, begging for alms, when they are supposed to be in classrooms.

It is a deliberate policy to take the youths off streets and curb their spread to major cities.

Yinka