The two very prominent aspects of northern Nigeria’s socio-economic history seem to be but not limited to the twin problems of child marriage and the somewhat badly structured almajiri system of education that seems not to incorporate much of western education.
These twin issues in turn have bred a plethora of problems that have impacted not only the individual northern states’ economies, but the country at large.
So, for the Governor of Kano State, Abdulahi Ganduje, to have announced at the 2019 Human Rights Summit Award organised by the National Human Rights Commission that the number of child marriages had drastically reduced because the state had made a law that no girl should be married before finishing secondary education, while modern education is being integrated into the almajiri education system, came as a welcome development..
We commend this new education policy in Kano, but we also caution that it might be too early to roll out the cymbals of celebration without verifiable statistics. Policies don’t fly to success.
They need good, well mapped-out strategies to succeed. These two socio-religious issues must be handled with absolute care in ways that the people would understand and own the new policy.
A lot of re-orientation, enlightenment and persuasive education must be done to purge the people of centuries-old practices.
Given that child-marriage, and the almajiri education system both seem to be rooted in some socio-religious convictions, the government must show a higher sense of emotional maturity and carry out very pervasive form of enlightenment for the people to understand that culture is a human construct and humans have the ability to change it, especially if it has more negatives than positives.
The government has to work with religious clerics, traditional rulers, schools, state and federal legislators that can help enlighten their constituents in ways that would be impactful.
Beyond making the policy for girls to finish secondary school before marriage, the government must realise that the conditions must be right.
Schools must first be equipped to take in more students. There must be a way to subsidise education or even give total scholarships to indigent but brilliant students.
Read Also: We’re still trying to resolve Kano Emirate crisis, says Ganduje
The religious and traditional institutions that conduct marriages must be under strict surveillance by state institutions to ensure that no one flouts the law. There must also be well spelt-out punishments for those that break the law.
However, we equally feel that using ‘finishing’ secondary school before marriage for the girls seem very unrealistic.
We would rather the government use age as a measure of maturity because even in the developed nations, there are options beyond strict academic achievements.
The government can invest in vocational schools, sports and entertainment where those who cannot academically cope after their basic education can learn skills that can sustain them for life.
The idea of an integrative almajiri education system is equally commendable and the government must work very hard on parents and those who have been benefitting from the old system so that they would not sabotage the new policy. They must be educated first on the advantages so that the buy-in would be huge.
While we commend the Kano State government for these ideas, it must not count the chickens before they are hatched. Making policies is a step, the process and strategies of execution determine success or failure.
There must be clear-cut and functional strategies for the policies to yield the expected results. We urge other states in the north to borrow a leaf from Kano State.
The statistics from UNESCO and UNICEF and other global agencies on poverty, illiteracy, girl-child education and the effects of child marriages and the dysfunctional almajiri system in the region and around the country cannot be ignored.
Leave a Reply