Enrol your children into Almajiri school and go to jail - El Rufai warns

Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufa’i, has warned parents against enrolling their children into the Almajiri education system or risk jail term.

While visiting deported Almajiria in the state on Monday, the governor said that any Islamic cleric who enrols any child into the Almajiri system would also be prosecuted and jailed as well as fined N100,000 or N200,000 per child.

At least 200 Almajiri children were deported from Nasarawa State to curb the spread of COVID-19. They are now undergoing rehabilitation and optical screening at Government College, Kurmin Mashi, Kaduna.

Almajiri children often become street beggars, against the initial purpose of enrolling them to school to gain Islamic knowledge under Islamic Clerics.

According to him, the state has a responsibility to do whatever it can to give them hope and a better future.

“We will, therefore, continue to take delivery of every Almajiri pupil indigenous to Kaduna state for rehabilitation, treatment and enrollment into formal school nearest to where their parents live.

“We will continue to do this until we clear Kaduna state of the menace of the Almajiri system, which is not education but the abuse of the privilege and future of a child.

“Our ultimate goal is for them to acquire formal education without depriving them of the opportunity to acquire Quranic education.

“They will continue their Quranic education but under the care of their parents and not under someone who does not know them or paid to look after them.”

He explained that the Ministry of Human Services and Social Development (MHSSD), along with UNICEF would closely monitor them and ensure that no child would leave his locality until he finished primary and junior secondary school.

The governor stressed that every child in Kaduna state must get 12-year free and compulsory primary and secondary school education.

“Those that cannot proceed to senior secondary school will have the opportunity to go to vocational school, also free.

“As such, no parent has any excuse for his child not to go to school,” El-Rufa’i said.

The governor thanks all bodies(locally and internationally) for their input towards the welfare of the children.

NAN