The Nigerian government needs to take deliberate steps to revitalize the Tsangaya system of education through reliable data of out of school children for effective delivery of teaching and learning in Nigeria as well as ending the current insecurity and other forms of social vices in the country.
Minister of State for Education, Suwaiba Ahmad, who said this at revitalization of Tsangaya education system conference in Abuja noted that the Federal government is already working on an internally generated data that will reflect the true number of out of school and Almajiri children in Nigeria.
The Almajiri education otherwise known as Tsangaya education system was given legal backing in Nigeria through the establishment of the National Commission for Nomadic Education (NCNE) in 1989.
After about thirty six years of official recognition of the Tsangaya system of education, also known as the traditional Qur’anic school, Nigeria is still relying on the consistently fluctuating data rolled out by the United Nations Children’s Fund UNICEF for annual planning.
MUST READ: Out Of School Children: Northern Leaders Blamed For Not Sustaining GEJ’s Tsangi School Programme
The Abuja conference is therefore a platform for stakeholders to adopt a model that will address the challenges of Almajiri and out of school children in the country.
Some of the resource persons were unanimous that there is a need to develop a template for data collection of out of school and Almajiri children to protect them from harmful practices.
The conference, put together by PLAN International Nigeria, and attended by stakeholders in the education sector and civil society organizations was aimed at creating a change in the Tsangaya system of education in Nigeria.
(Editor: Okechukwu Eze)
