It is obvious that Northern Nigeria
‘Almajiri’ System of Education (karatun allo), over
the years has been characterized by street roaming
of kids for “bara” meaning begging, popularly
referred to as Almajiri (a student seeking
knowledge) or Almajirai (plural)
Looking at the story of a boy,
Alhasan, born in Bebeji, Kano Emirate in 1877, his
father, Abdullahi died when he was eight. His
mother, Amarya, then left for Accra, Ghana and left
her children in the care of a foster mother named
Tata. Tata sent young Alhassan to an Almajiri school
in Bebeji, where he worked and learned from a
Tijaniyya Malam. At the age of 17, Alhasan went to
Accra to see his mother, who promptly took him to
another Malam. After a year or two, he returned to
Bebeji, to his foster mother, Tata, where he learned
thrift, and from his Malam at the Almajiri School,
he learnt some skills and hard work. This knowledge,
he put to work, working the trade routes that were
opening up in that brave new world of British rule.
By 1906, Alhasan was using steamships to move
merchandise between Accra, Sekondi and Lagos. By the
time Alhasan Dantata died, he was the wealthiest man
in West Africa. He was the great-grandfather of
Aliko Dangote, the present Richest Man in African,
and he had been an Almajiri.
The word Almajiri is derived from the
Arabic “Al muhajirun”, “an immigrant”. It usually
refers to a person or student who migrates from his
home to a popular teacher in the quest for Islamic
knowledge. This is the basis of the Almajiri system
in what became Northern Nigeria Almajiri System of
Education. Almajiri means a student seeking
knowledge and not a beggar as popularly believed.
History has shown that this system started as early
as in the 11th century as a result of the
involvement of Borno rulers in Qur'anic literacy.
Before British colonization, a system called
Tsangaya prevailed in the Kanem-Borno Empire. It was
established as an organized and comprehensive system
of education for learning Islamic principles,
values, jurisprudence and theology. Over seven
hundred years later, the Sokoto Caliphate (Dan-Fodio)
was funded principally through an Islamic revolution
based on the teachings of the Holy Qur'an. These
two empires run similar Qur'anic learning systems
which over time came to be known as the Almajiri
System. Under the system, during the pre-colonial
days, the pupils lived with their parents for moral
upbringing. All the schools were located within the
immediate environment from where the pupils came
from. The Dan-Fodio revolution brought with it some
modifications; the establishment of an inspectorate
of Qur'anic literacy.
The inspectors reported directly to
the Emir of the province, concerning all matters
relating to the school. It was argued that this
period, was the height of Qur'anic education in
northern Nigeria. The schools were maintained by the
state funding, communities, the parents’ 'Zakat', 'Waqf'
and supplemented by the teachers and students
through farming. "Bara or begging" as it is known
today, is completely unheard of. Teachers and their
students (Almajirai), in return, provide the
community with Islamic Education, reading and
writing the Qur'an, in addition, to the development
of Ajami i.e. writing and reading of Hausa
language using Arabic Alphabets. Based on this
system, which is founded upon the teachings of
Qur'an and Hadith, the then Northern Nigeria was
largely educated, could read and write Ajami with a
complete way of life, governance, customs,
traditional craft, trade and even the mode of the
tax collection system. That was the reason why the
British included Ajami in the Nigerian currency
(naira) so that people could read it. The students
were at liberty to acquire skills in between their
Islamic lessons, and so were involved in trades such
as trading, farming, fishing, trading and masonry,
among others. Many were the farmers who produce
formed the famous groundnut pyramids in Kano. After
colonization, the Almajiris were recruited by the
British as miners in Jos. The system also produced
judges, clerks, and teachers who provided the
colonial administration with the needed staff. The
first set of colonial staff in Northern Nigeria was
provided by the Almajiri schools.
The Destruction of the Almajiri
System
The coming of the British to the
north invaded and conquered the region and killed
many of the emirs and deposed some. Consequently,
the Emirs lost control of their territories and the
Almajiri system; and accepted their new roles, as
mere traditional rulers. The British intentionally
terminated state funding for the Almajiri system
arguing that they were mere religious schools. With
the loss of support from the government, its direct
community and the helpless Emirs, the Almajiri
system collapsed and “Karatun Boko”, western
education was introduced and funded instead.
The pupils, and their Malams, having no financial
support for a pro-long period, resorted to begging
for survival. Animosity and antagonism grew,
worsened by the belief that western education was of
Christian-European origin and therefore
anti-Islamic. Fears grew that children with Western
education would eventually lose their Islamic
identity. The Malams (teachers) increasingly sent
their students out to beg. To make ends meet, some
of these Malams began to impose “kudin sati”, a form
of weekly fees, on the students, reassuring them
that to beg was better than to steal. The students
in their turn swam into society with no bearing.
This was the genesis of the predicament of the
Almajiri system today.
The Current Practice Almajiri in
Nigeria
A
UNICEF report from 2014 put the number of Almajiri
in Nigeria at 9.5 million, or 72 percent of the
country’s 13.2 million out-of-school children. This
is a disaster, as some estimates claim that the
number of out of school children in the country has
risen past the 15 million marks, more of them in the
North. One can imagine 9.5 million potential
lawyers, judges, accountants, engineers, doctors,
chemists etc. being wasted away. Under normal
circumstances, the Almajiri education system is
important in that it inculcates in the young ones
the teachings and practices of the Islamic faith.
To underscore its relevance in the effort to expose
young people to literacy at an early age, the system
has produced outstanding scholars and personalities
in areas that Islam is dominant, including political
leaders and businessmen, for example, Alhassan
Dantata. So, the argument is not about the quality
and appropriateness of that system of education but
the way and manner it is being practiced in the
country today which has led to the once beautiful
system assuming pejorative connotations. The system
as it is today has outlived its usefulness. The
system lacks good teachers and a fairly healthy
environment. The standards are very low because of
the emergence of half-baked semi-illiterate Qur'anic
Malams who use the system as a means of living
rather than a way of life itself.
It is easily observable also, that due to lack of an
outright absence of regulatory supervision, the
system is bastardized as most of the teachers (Malams)
have deviated from the real intent and purpose of
the Almajiri system. What is present in the psyche
of the average Nigerian is the image of
tattered-looking children who ordinarily should be
in school carrying bowls singing and begging for
food and money.
The pupils struggle to cater for
themselves and to support the Malams; which takes
most of the time rather than engage in learning.
Society and the parents have abdicated their
obligations of properly caring for and educating
their children. These bowl-carrying children have
now become so ubiquitous in almost all nooks and
corners of the Northern states, and even in the
southern states. “God has given us these children in
trust and given us guides on how to raise them and
we shall surely be judged accordingly”, in the
meantime, however, there seems to be a conspiracy of
silence between the parents, authorities and the
society at large. For the parents, the system
provides an outlet, and drainage for the excess
children at home (one man without means of
livelihood having thirty or more children), for the
authorities, it is a relief that they do not have to
budget for about 9.5 million Almajiri children's
education and welfare. As for the elites, arguably,
they care less as long as their children are not
involved. It is worrisome, with the increase in
population in the north; it appears as if the
Northern states of Nigeria have a monopoly of 'Bara'.
Young and old, able and disabled have taken to
streets, permanently, legitimizing begging on a
socio-economic and religious basis.
Furthermore, the Almajiri system has now become a matter
of great concern as children of school age roam the
streets aimlessly. As a result, the potential of these
children is never harnessed, and the chances of their
unique talent ever being discovered are in the nadir.
Instead of learning the Holy Qur’an, the Almajiri now
spends most of his time begging on the streets to
sustain himself and his Malam. Besides, the Almajirai do
not have any form of formal education, and once they
reach the voting age, they end up voting for politicians
who give them the most in terms of material things:
food, money; during campaigns. Unfortunately, this is
the same for most people in Northern Nigeria because of
the high rate of illiteracy.
According to a National Literacy
Survey (2010)[6 years and above] which was carried
out by the National Bureau of Statistics, the
literacy rates of the nineteen Northern states and
the Federal Capital Territory were as follows: Borno
(14.5%), Katsina (21.7%), Taraba (23.3%), Jigawa
(24.2%), Kebbi (25.3%), Yobe (26.6%), Kaduna
(29.3%), Sokoto (30.1%), Kogi (33.5%), Zamfara
(33.9%), Bauchi (34.1%), Niger (37.5%), Gombe
(39.3%), Adamawa (40.5%), Nasarawa (41.9%), Benue
(45.1%), Plateau (46.6%), Kano (48.9%), Kwara
(49.3%) and the Federal Capital Territory (61.4%).
Lacking education, the gullible Almajirai would go
to any extent to do the bidding of any person who
shows them kindness, love, and provides for them.
They are at the mercy of corrupt politicians who
deploy them to perpetrate election malpractice and
political violence.
From a
regional perspective, the north
spans 660,000 km²
(255,000 sq. miles) while the total
surface area of Nigeria was
923,800 km² (356,700
sq. miles), measured in 2015, according to
the World Bank; and according to the Nigerian
Demographic and Health Survey of 2008, population
increase is highest in the northern region due to
high total fertility rate (TFR), (north-central –
5.4, north-east – 7.2, and north-west – 7.3);
whereas in the South-East – 4.8, south-south – 4.7
and south-west – 4.5. For example, Nigeria's
population in 2012 by geographical zones as computed
by World Economic Forum (WEF) showed that the
South-South has 24.8 million; South-East, 19.3
million; South-West 33.1 million; North-West 44.2
million; North-East 23.3 million; North-Central 24.7
million; making northern zones population be 92.2
Million and the other zones combined is 77.2
million, thereby making a total population of
Nigeria
169.4 million as at 2012. In 2020, the Nigerian
population is estimated to be more than 200 million and
the population is
projected to grow more than 392 million in 2050,
becoming the world’s fourth most populous country.
Nigeria’s sustained high population growth rate will
continue for the foreseeable future because of
population momentum high birth rate. A fertility
rate is a measure of the average number of children that
women will bear during their lifetime and is dependent
on many factors and social circumstances, such as
cultures, traditions, religion, education and the
overall level of development of the particular society
or community. Also, the age of entry into a union and
the availability of contraception are two key proximate
determinants of fertility.
Islamic Scholars and Western
Education to be harmonized
This forecast on population growth
and the phenomenon of Almajiri represents a scar on
the face of Northern Nigeria. Nothing could be more
degrading and further from the truth. People should
not give birth to children knowing they have no
means to support them; Islam enjoins man to work, to
use his brain and hands to make a living for himself
and supports his family. As the system is currently
being practiced today, lots of the children never
make it. Some are lost through violence in the
streets, some through child stealing, while others
are lost through diseases and hunger and sadly, most
through recruitment as suicide bombers, banditry and
terrorism. Those who make it usually complete the
reading of the Holy Qur'an and eventually became
petty-traders, drivers, and labourers etc.
Those who could not make it are
condemned to other menial jobs, since they have no
skills or western education at hand. They resort to
wheelbarrow pushing, touting and so on. They remain
as untrained armies available to anybody poised to
ferment trouble. Looking back at the basis of the
Almajiri system, and the years of mistrust that have
coincided with its decline and eventual failure, it
is clear that the leaders including the Islamic
scholars in the north have a lot of work to do.
There is a connection between Islamic and Western
education, and it is the duties of the leaders to
find it, and urgently. Because those Almajiris that
have been lost through violence in the streets have
their axes to grind against their parents,
authorities and the society at large. The
alternative of not doing anything about this is too
chilling to contemplate.
Conversely, the government may need
to build more Almajiri Model High Schools so that it
would be able to accommodate all the Almajirai. It
is necessary that the Federal Government strictly
ensures that these schools are properly funded,
supervised and maintained. There should also be the
proper mobilization of qualified and dedicated
personnel. Besides the aforementioned, the
government should embark on public enlightenment
campaigns so people in rural areas are aware of the
importance of education, and are motivated to send
their children to school. Governments at all levels
should make concerted efforts to return the
Almajirai to their states of origin where they would
be reunited with their families. It is imperative
that the government collaborate with the private
sector to not only enlighten the parents of the
Almajirai on their parental responsibilities and
obligations but also help to bring about a safe,
misery-free environment in which these children may
thrive.
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