Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai has warned that going forward, parents who enroll their children into the Almajiri education system would be prosecuted and if found guilty, sent to jail for two years.
El-Rufa stated this in Kaduna on Monday when he visited some 200 Almajiri children sent back from Nasarawa State who are undergoing rehabilitation and optical screening at Government College, Kurmin Mashi, Kaduna.
According to the governor, any Islamic cleric who enrolls any child into the Almajiri system would also be prosecuted and jailed.
In addition, he said the cleric would be fined N100,000 or N200,000 per child.
El-Rufai assured his government would give the repatriated Almajiris all the opportunity they deserved to grow and develop.
He said he was satisfied with the ongoing transformation of the Almajiri pupils from hopelessness to hope and confidence.
The governor said: “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 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 the children and ensure that no child would leave his locality until he finished primary and junior secondary school.
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El-Rufai stated that every child in the state must get 12-year free and compulsory primary and secondary school education.
He added: “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.”
He thanked MHSSD and other state agencies for the commitment and passion for the welfare of the children.
He also thanked AMA foundation and other NGOs and civil societies for supporting the government to provide the Almajiri pupils with the needed medical care, food, and clothing, among others.
The governor particularly expressed gratitude to UNICEF for supporting the state government in ensuring that all the repatriated children were well documented.
Also speaking during the visit, the Commissioner, Human Services and Social Development, Hajiya Hafsat Baba, disclosed that the state has so far received more than 900 Almajiri pupils from Kano, Bauchi, Plateau and Nasarawa states.
She said that no fewer than 500 of them were rehabilitated, treated (those who tested positive to COVID-19) and reunited with their families while some 400 others were still undergoing rehabilitation and would soon be reunited with their families.
In his own remarks, UNICEF Chief of Field Office, Kaduna, Dr. Zakari Adam, commended Kaduna state government for its efforts to ensure that all children go to school as against begging in the streets.
He restated UNICEF’s continued support to the state in all children-related issues such as child protection, education, and health among other areas, for uninterrupted growth and development of every child.