PUNCH, in a timely Editorial Opinion of today, makes an unassailable case for the eradication of Almajiri System.
“Now is the time for action. Once relevant when literacy in Arabic was the basis of social, economic and political mobility, today, Almajiri system is a ghastly aberration. It accounts for about 8 – 10 million of the 13.5 million out-of-school children in Nigeria, the world’s highest, and Almajiris are included in the 91 million wretchedly poor in the country.”
Now that the President has observed that “When I drive round the country, what upsets me most is the status of our poor people…You see the so-called Almajiri wearing torn dresses with plastic bowls. I think we the Nigerian elite; we are all failing,”
If the will exists, the way is, and the time is NOW.
Full text of PUNCH’s “Terminate, Not Reform, Almajiri System”
I think the statistics about the numbers of Almajeris is almost double what is reported here.
What I personally witness daily on Kaduna roads call for declaration of emergency in this part of the nation.