Why Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation Deserves Accolades For Its Great Plans Toward Tsangaya school Children -By Mohammed Aliyu Baba

The establishment of classrooms or learning centers at the strategic locations or communities has been the best method through which western education spread to the nooks and crannies of human societies right from the inception.

Historically, the beginning of meaningful western education in Nigeria (as a whole) can perfectly be attributed to the activities of missionaries around the 1840s who took their ideologies to the targeted individuals in their respective domain. They were much concentrated on the southern part of the country, hence, the region enjoys the rapid advancement in the spread of western education than the northern part.

As such, the new plan by Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation (SABMF) to introduce western education in Tsangaya schools in the 23 local government areas of Kaduna State, is a great and welcome development worthy of commendation.

According to a report by Maryam Ahmadu-Suka in Kaduna, this unique plan by the foundation will be in collaboration with MacArthur Foundation for speedy execution of the program; and this also includes skills acquisition that would develop these children and prepare them for competitive spaces in the society.

This was contained in a statement made by the director general and chief executive officer of the foundation, Eng. Abubakar Umar during a one day focused group discussion with teachers of Tsangaya schools in Kaduna. Engineer Umar stressed that the plan is aimed at addressing the problems associated with the Almajiri education system in northern Nigeria.

“We’re trying to see how bringing/introducing western education to the doorsteps of the Tsangaya school children could help in changing the scenario and bring a lasting solution to the problem of their one-sided education in Almajiri education system. They deserve more than a religious education and that’s why we’re planning collaboratively with MacArthur Foundation to do this and see how far it will go.” He said.

It is indeed a great setback for individuals or groups to be solely focusing on only religious studies in this generation that verse knowledge is needed to cope with societal demands. Sadly, most (if not all) of these Tsangaya school children have no means to acquire the formal education as expected by the government and relevant educational stakeholders.

The intervention of the federal government into the activities of Tsangaya (Almajiri) education system during the Goodluck Jonathan’s administration could not fully see the light of the day due to lack of proper collaboration of relevant authorities. Despite that the initiative was aimed at getting the Almajiri children of school off the street, discourage them from begging and provide a conducive environment that could facilitate the effective integration of Islamic education system into western education; but all efforts almost went in vain.

However, this kind of gesture by NGOs and well-meaning individuals like SABMF will therefore complement the efforts of the government in giving these less privileged children the needed western education. Failing to do this will likely amount to negative consequences that no meaningful society will cope with. Because they mostly ended up as nuisances to the society that failed to engage them productively.