On The Almajiri-Tsangaya System of Education of Northern Nigeria

I think a call for total abolishing of the Almajiri system is too unrealistic and abrupt a 'solution'. Moreover, instead of addressing the 'roots' we are going for the 'trunk of the tree'. Social problems of this nature need to be addressed holistically and thus I think we should go for reform.

The two things that need to be addressed IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER include the following:

1. Poverty and low level of education: Most of those children who suffer neglect do so from their parents being unable to cater for them and lack of knowledge that the abandoning of children at such early levels has negative effects on the children. This combination of factors needs to be properly isolated and tackled holistically as well as individually. The challenge is that even if a law is passed today to abolish the almajiri tsangaya (schools) we will find out that there is no ready program in place to 'substitute' that which is being eliminated. The 'formal western education' is nothing to write home about as a replacement and is moreover seen with keen suspicion a la "Boko haramun ne'. Thus there is a need for our societies to come together and address issues of standards of living through collaborative efforts between government as an enabler and the private sector as initiators and investors in the commonwealth.

Religious/cultural considerations will figure much in this aspect of intervention and depending on how it is handled will determine how successful the effort is in ending the cycle that seems to perpetuate the problems identified. As an aside, there seems to be a correlation between a higher standard of living and less children and inversely a higher number of children amongst low income earners. But as I said, only a holistic approach will be able to proffer a sustainable solution to the scourge of child begging, abandonment and‘abuse’.

2. Integration of the Tsangaya system of Education: All over the world there are examples of how the existing traditional systems have been successfully integrated into the mainstream with the advantage of recognizing and increasing the corpus of knowledge. The Tsangaya system was unfortunately abandoned and left to its devices which caused/contributed to its decay over time.

Ideally, the Teachers of Tsangaya should be recognized by the Education Authorities and be given befitting status in line with their 'Formal Western education' counterparts. The issue of language should not even be raised because there are innumerable enough linguists available to ‘translate’, transcribe and do any other thing needed to bridge the gap. There are examples of successful models that we can copy from our sister Africans, Asians and the rest of the world (Brazil, China, Turkey).

As I wrote elsewhere:

The fastest way of achieving what the 'Almajiri Schools' purportedly established in the North seek to achieve, is in making the (formal educational) system incorporate Almajiris. This will automatically take care of issues like begging which has already been legally prevented in Kano.

I once discussed with a learned elder on thepossibility of organizations like Jama'atu Nasril Islam and the like to propose at the highest levels that the 'Mallams' heading the Tsangayas should be formally given a documentation by the State/Institutions that recognises their knowledge. This will start a gradual formalization of the Tsangaya system with uncountable attendant benefits.”

As for evidence, I think Fiona Lovatt of the Lovatt Foundation is doing ‘work’ in this field and has numerous ‘fieldwork’that can be invaluable in ascertaining much of the ‘anecdotal’ and unproven issues. Essentially, I think if a more scientific method can be used it would proffer ways in which ‘reformation’ and reorganization of the system can be done for more optimal outcomes.

Haidar Wali  May 4,  2015