Covid-19: We need help to return Almajiri children to parents – Tsangaya schools

Following the activation of partial lockdown to curtail the spread of COVID-19 in Kaduna State, proprietors of traditional Islamic schools popularly referred to as Tsangaya or Almajiri schools have appealed to the State Government to provide them with necessary resources to return the children to their parents.

Daily Trust reports that many Almajiri boys still roam the streets of Kaduna metropolis without access to basic hygiene kits.

Our correspondent who visited an Almajiri school in Tudun Nupawa, Kaduna metropolis stumbled on an emergency meeting called by the head of the school, Gwani Sunusi Abdullahi, who said meetings have been on-going among teachers to determine the fate of the school and its students.

He explained that the directive of the state government to shutdown schools have been adopted by the school but said the financial means to ensure the children are returned to their parents is unavailable.

“We are aware of the disease that affects the whole world. We also know that the government has closed down all schools including Islamic schools. In Tsangaya schools we have agreed to suspend all gatherings because we do not know who is infected,” he said.

At the Badarawa Tsangaya School, the head teacher, Malam Abdullahi Ibrahim said they have commenced the process of returning the boys to their respective parents in compliance with the directive of the state government.

However, Mallam Ahmad Ibrahim, at Unguwar Rimi Tsangaya

Bauchi State Ministry of Education has directed Proprietors and Malams of Qur’anic (Almajiri) and Islamiyya Schools to shutdown immediately and return the children to their parents.

A statement issued by the State Ministry of Education signed by Dr. Aliyu Usman Tilde, and pasted on his Facebook account yesterday in Bauchi, said that the ministry observed that Qur’anic (Almajiri) and Islamiyya Schools have not been closed by

School said government should have called for prayers instead, and stressed that he would only return his students to their parents when a curfew is imposed.

“There is no wisdom in stopping people from memorizing the Quran. What the government should have done is to seek for prayers which we are ready to offer,” he said.

At this particular school, students could be seen clustered in small groups as they recite from their wooden tablets few meters from the road.

Meanwhile, the Centre for Media Advocacy for Mother and Child (CAMAC) in a statement issued by its Executive Director, Alex Uangbaoje, has called on governments to make special arrangement for Almajiri children who roam the streets as the dreaded Corona Virus takes its toll on the populace. their proprietors, saying “This is a serious breach of the order and dangerous to public health.”

Tilde said that there is the need to secure the health of the Almajiri students as “They roam the streets and homes to fetch every meal they eat. Such high mobility makes them vulnerable to infection by the virus more than any other social group”. And when sick, little can be done to them. One infected child, in the crowded rooms they reside in, can cause unimaginable havoc to other children and community.