Emir of Gombe, Dr Abubakar Shehu, has called for an integrated national policy on almajiri system of education in the country.
The Emir made the call on Monday during a webinar on devising a roadmap to reforming the almajiri system organised by Noor Takaful, a Lagos-based insurance company.
The Emir explained that the almajiri issue had remained a very complex one over time, and it was high time it got a new face.
According to him, there is need to understand its flaws and bring a sustainable national policy with clear guidelines on reforming the system.
Dr Shehu, however, noted that when he became the Emir of Gombe he made a lot of interventions on the system.
He said that such interventions included provision of solar lights at the schools, providing support for many pupils and building some more schools.
He commended the state governments that began restructuring the system, urging them to provide training for the teachers and also agree on age level of children to be enrolled.
The Emir further called for establishment of governing board for the schools as well as creating an endowment fund to support the economic needs of the system.
An expert in inclusive education, Dr Hadiza Abdurrahman, in a presentation highlighted Section 15(1)UBEC Act 2004 which, she said, had given almajiri education the right to be funded.
She revealed that the almajiri pupils were far from out-of-school children, street beggars, area boys, political thugs or even criminals as they were being addressed in some cases.
A Quranic teacher, Malam Nasiru Yahaya, in a brief remark explained that more than half of the beggars seen on the streets were not almajiri pupils.
He admitted that some teachers really allowed their almajiri pupils to beg but most of the ones on the streets were not almajiris.
He appealed for total reform of the system to enable the almajiri pupils to have an integrated system of both formal and Qu’ranic education.
Noor Takaful, is an insurance company which organised the webinar as an avenue to generate a discussion to the unending almajiri education issues.
