The Nation Newspaper

Tag: child right

  • ‘Modern’ Almajiri and child right in Nigeria

    Imran Muhammad Ambursa, my Hausa friend, a colleague and a class-mate furnished my knowledge after interviewing him, about the Almajiri child, because I thought Almajiri was a beggar or a peasant in the society. But alas, Almajiri in Arewa culture means studentship- someone who left his locality or who is made to leave his locality in quest of knowledge, Islamic knowledge particularly.

    The interview, coupled with what my eyes have seen ever since my stay in Northern Nigeria: the children of unkempt bodies; battling survival with bowls; the children of hungry bellies; with torn tattered clothes, the homeless children; wandering streets beneath scorching sun and sleeping in verandas in night hours, would make me to go for transformation of Almajiri Education System in North rather than banning the system.

    The system has truly taken another dimension and has lost its motive. My friend, Ambursa narrated to me of the and nowadays practice of Almajiri education system. He stated that his father also went to Almajiri school during heydays in Zaria and after acquiring Islamic knowledge, he came back to his hometown before vying for Western education. He stated basically the reason then was that if one is allowed to study within one’s vicinity and around one’s family and relatives, one would not be strengthen in such knowledge.

    Arewa almajiri education system then, was just a custom of Arewa people to send their children to some Malams in particular areas (villages or cities) in order for those children to be imbued with Islamic knowledge, especially, memorization of Quran. Then, it was religion, moral right, natural justice and good conscience, because the aim then was to furnish the society with religious knowledge.

    Nowadays you would see these Almajiris who have been sent away from their abode, from their biological parents to Malams in villages or cities, wandering streets with tattered clothes. You would see them at public places; filling stations, markets, motor-parks, a place-like cinemas, they wander, romancing hot weather for their daily breads, they wander hugging cold weather for where to sleep, taking plastic bowls as their favoured company, silently singing songs of dirgeful nature and looking piercingly to beget what to eat! One million dollar question to be asked: are they orphans- without parents or are they without relatives? Sad.

    My friend narrated to me the ordeals and traumas of this system, to which he witnessed and encountered. He shared live sad stories of some Almajiri children. To quote him verbally, he narrated:

    “There is one boy, he use to wash dishes, everything for us. I asked him since when he was in this town, he said seven years ago. He was from one village in Niger state. I asked him how far, do you memorise Quran, he said ‘No’. I said ‘Okay’ what did you memorise, he said three hizbs. Imagine only three hizbs for seven years! His father apparently abandoning him!” He concluded.

    He also narrated of one grown-up Almajiri whose legs had forsaken his locality for so long.

    “There is one town we use to go farming, one man now come, the man we were staying in his house. He told us where he sent his child to Almajiri school five years ago and fortunately enough, we were at the village, the boy arrived but could not even recognize his homestead, they said this is your town but he didn’t even know where to go. He was just hanging around. It was one of the brothers that saw him and shout Musa, are you the one? Hey! When did you come back? He thence directed him to his house.”

    Imagine: One ought to imagine these sorts of stories that are sour to one’s ears. But sad enough- poets/writers had tried, have been trying enough but yet to no avail, using their ink to plod the medulla oblongatas of our country: the stakeholders; the businessmen; the elder statesmen; the godfathers; the government officials; the royalties; the generals; the politicians, to do battle and pour water on the fire of this menace which is capable of causing arson to the whole nation! Kudos to Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’s administration, the only administration recently to  try to sanitize Almajiri practice by partnering with Islamic Development Bank to build up to 35 modern almajiri schools across northern Nigeria, most of which have been abandoned by current state governments. Shame.

    And sad enough- most of these Almajiris are not even acquiring Islamic knowledge, know not how to pray, freshen up not, memorise not Quran, wasting their precious life-time by planned “Beg-Chop-Sleep”, turning nuisance; one even need not to confirm the basis of thuggery for these Almajiris have been denied their “Educational Objectives” and “Social Objectives” as entrenched in Chapter II of the Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria.

    Also, sad enough- as my friend unveiled to me the secrecy of some of those Malams, that a single Malam can have up to 200 Almajiris and during raining season, these Almajiris turn to men-fit-for-farm! That most of those Malams care not how their claimed-students survive, how they live, how they bath, how they sleep. Where are the Legal-Bulldozers to invoke section 34 of Chapter IV of Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria? Of right to dignity of human persons, of right not to be subjected to inhumane or degrading treatment, of right not to be held in servitude! Who will wake those slumberous parents that know, of course that Malams can’t at all cater for their children, yet, sending their children is their only choice to reduce the level of their own responsibility by hiding under the canopy of Islamic injunction that “seeking for knowledge is mandatory for all”?

    The main recommendation for all these  lies on government; for the security and welfare of the people is the premium and primary purpose of government- this is entrenched in section 14 sub (2) of (b) of Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria. Also, there ought to be local coordinators enlightening villagers or peasants of the consequence of irresponsible mass production of children, by killing the mentality of “I-fit-do, I-fit-do” bedevilling the Arewa culture. Lastly, promulgation of a strictly enforced legislation(s) by Northern State Assemblies and National Assembly transforming these Almajiri schools to modern ones, like government public schools but they should be imbued with pure Islamic knowledge.

    Preferably, the system ought to be banned but for fear of the religious hullabaloo that might ensue. Time beckons…

     

    • Sulaiman wrote from Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto.

  • Child Right Act to be domesticated in Kaduna

    Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai has said the Child Rights Act will be domesticated in the state.

    The governor hinted that the amended Child Right Bill was before the House of Assembly for consideration.

    El-Rufai spoke at the weekend when he received some Civil Society Organisations (CSO) at the Government House in Kaduna.

    Addressing reporters after the meeting, El-Rufai said domestication of the Child Right Act becomes imperative following the penalty for child abusers like rapists.

    He noted that the Act, which since 2003 has been a federal law, could not be domesticated in Kaduna due to issues raised by traditional and religious leaders on the specified age for a girl to marry.

  • Advocating rights of children

    Advocating rights of children

    As 25th anniversary of children’s rights convention approaches, vast progress made but reaching unreached children will require sharper focus on disparities, new report says

    Declaring that ‘every child counts’, UNICEF today urged greater effort and innovation to identify and address the gaps that prevent the most disadvantaged of the world’s 2.2 billion children from enjoying their rights.

    The children’s agency, in a report released today, highlights the importance of data in making progress for children and exposing the unequal access to services and protections that mars the lives of so many.

    “Data have made it possible to save and improve the lives of millions of children, especially the most deprived,” said Tessa Wardlaw, Chief of UNICEF’s Data and Analytics Section. “Further progress can only be made if we know which children are the most neglected, where girls and boys are out of school, where disease is rampant or where basic sanitation is lacking.”

    Tremendous progress has been made since the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) was signed in 1989 and in the run up to the culmination of the Millennium Development Goals in 2015. UNICEF’s flagship report, The State of the World’s Children 2014 in Numbers shows that:

    – Some 90 million children who would have died before reaching the age of 5 if child mortality rates had stuck at their 1990 level have, instead, lived. In large measure, this is because of progress in delivering immunizations, health, and water and sanitation services.

    – Improvements in nutrition have led to a 37 per cent drop in stunting since 1990.

    – Primary school enrolment has increased, even in the least developed countries: Whereas in 1990 only 53 in 100 children in those countries gained school admission, by 2011 the number had improved to 81 in 100.

    Even so, the statistics in the report, titled “Every Child Counts: Revealing disparities, advancing children’s rights,” also bear witness to ongoing violations of children’s rights:

    – Some 6.6 million children under 5 years of age died in 2012, mostly from preventable causes, in violation of their fundamental right to survive and develop.

    – Fifteen per cent of the world’s children are put to work that compromises their right to protection from economic exploitation and infringes on their right to learn and play.

    – Eleven per cent of girls are married before they turn 15, jeopardizing their rights to health, education and protection.

    Data also reveal gaps and inequities, showing the gains of development are unevenly distributed:

    – The world’s poorest children are nearly three (2.7) times less likely than the richest ones to have a skilled attendant at their birth, leaving them and their mothers at increased risk of birth-related complications.

    – In the Niger, all urban households but only 39 per cent of rural households have access to safe drinking water.

    – In Chad, for every 100 boys who enter secondary school, only 44 girls do – leaving them without an education and without protections and services that schools can provide.
    – In Nigeria, only 47% of people who live in rural areas have access to improved drinking water against 75% of people in the urban areas. The disparity continues even in HIV prevalence. Prevalence among young girls is 1.3% while only 0.7% among boys. Access to education shows some disparity too in favour of boys. Net enrolment rate for boys into primary school is 60% while for girls it is 55% while net attendance is 72% of boys and 68% for girls.

    The report notes that “being counted makes children visible, and this act of recognition makes it possible to address their needs and advance their rights.” It adds that innovations in data collection, analysis and dissemination are making it possible to disaggregate data by such factors as location, wealth, sex, and ethnic or disability status, to include children who have been excluded or overlooked by broad averages.

    The report urges increased investment in innovations that right the wrong of exclusion.

    “Overcoming exclusion begins with inclusive data. To improve the reach, availability and reliability of data on the deprivations with which children and their families contend, the tools of collection and analysis are constantly being modified – and new ones are being developed. This will require sustained investment and commitment,” the report says.

    Much of what is known about the situations of children comes from household surveys, and in particular the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS). Designed and supported by UNICEF, MICS are conducted by national statistical authorities and provide disaggregated data on a range of topics affecting children’s survival, development, rights and experience of life. To date, MICS surveys have been conducted in more than 100 countries. In the last round of MICS, interviews were completed in more than 650,000 households in 50 countries.

    Thirty years have passed since The State of the World’s Children began to publish tables of standardized global and national statistics aimed at providing a detailed picture of children’s circumstances. With the release of an edition of the report dedicated to data, UNICEF is inviting decision-makers and the general public to access and use its statistics – at www.data.unicef.org – to drive positive change for children.

    “Data do not, of themselves, change the world. They make change possible – by identifying needs, supporting advocacy, and gauging progress. What matters most is that decision-makers use the data to make positive change, and that the data are available for children and communities to use in holding duty-bearers to account,” the report said.

    Report by UNICEF

  • ‘Child right is our concern’

    ‘Child right is our concern’

    In recent times, there has been outcry on the girl child education. What is your personal impression?

    Well, when you talk of girl child, the case of a little girl called Madalla comes to mind. Remember Madalla is the Pakistani girl who had a bullet lodged in her brain, yet she ran out of her country where they didn’t want her to go to school. I think she was in India where she managed to get herself to the United Kingdom. Today, she is a world star talking about the importance of education for children generally and, of course,the girl child because of social or cultural belief.

    The truth is that the future belongs to the youth and children; and if you take a demographic study of the children below 20 or so takes 60 per cent of the population of Nigeria. That tells you that they are also the critical segment of the country. In Nigeria, we have many reasons these children are not in school. This ranges from social to economic to religious and all that, but the truth is that we have to start getting these children to school.

    What efforts is the government making at promoting girl child education?

    In Delta State, we have a compulsory programme, which we are urging every other state to key into; and it is that you go and look for these children. They are either in their homes or on the streets hawking or forcefully married to some men. Just go and forcefully remove them and send them to school. In Delta, these schools are free and obviously what we need is the force of law to back you; and this can be done by the different states of the houses of assembly. That should be the right way to go. Any other thing will amount to stunted growth for our future generation.

    What of the boy child?

    It is the same experience like the girl child. They send them out to work as stewards, roadside mechanics, cooks and all that. But, at the end, you are stagnating the growth of these children. And what we are telling them is that this is damn foolish. Whatever these children are giving to you today is mere pittance compared to what they will give you tomorrow after acquiring education.

    Has the state been able to take statistics of the out-of-school young boys and girls?

    Well, let me start with what even gave us that impetus. We initially started out by rehabilitating a lot of our schools and building new model schools up to international standard. The truth is that by the time we spent the kind of resources we are spending on these schools, you can imagine if these schools are either empty or not as full as they should be.

    In Delta (State) I must tell you it’s nowhere near endemic as a people because if you look back to Delta in what used to be the Midwest. We have three or four generations that are well ahead of us that are well educated. You find people of my age and over their 50s and their fathers or grandfathers that were doctors, lawyers, engineers and all that just like you have in the Western part of Nigeria. But lately, due to economic downturn over the last 20 or 30 years, there has been that downward spread; and that is the reason why our young girls and boys are not going to school is basically economic.

    So, we said the solution to this is to make these schools free. And like we always say, you never know the next child that will be the next best pilot or surgeon or engineer of this world. So we must create an open field to all our children.

     

    You spoke about Delta State domesticating the Child Right Act, what is the state now?

    I think right now, it is in the process. I don’t think the final bill has been assented to but I know the process is on just like the Freedom of Information Bill.

    Would you admit that the challenge of the Nigerian child is as a result of failure of leadership?

    No! And that is why we have the civil society in place. The government has so much to do. So, we have people in the private sector that prompt the way on different things. We have different ministries and different sectors that they can work with. What this does is that when you take an issue about the girl child for example, you can then bring it up to the government whether at the state or federal level, and government can then back you up in terms of resources and logistics so that the project can become successful. But I can assure you it is better when things like these are being championed by civil societies.

    What approach did you use?

    So we look at five major areas of diversifying which are sports, culture and tourism, ICT (Information and Communication Technology), agriculture and education. Don’t forget that Delta is a big state with over 20 big cities. So whatever we must do in a particular city must be replicated everywhere else because of our ethnic diversity. So we are building these model schools everywhere including the riverine because about 40 per cent of Delta areas is riverine. Against this background, you can imagine the challenges of building these schools there. And then we are taking some of the best old schools and refurbishing them to world-class standard. These are first class schools and anybody can take a trip to see things for themselves. In fact what the governor (Uduaghan) did in his second term was that he had this special ministry called the Ministry of Special Infrastructure that is funding those projects. Of course, the ministry has a commissioner but the governor personally superintends that ministry because he has a passion for it. Those are the things he wants to leave as a legacy.

    What are the challenges government is facing in actualising these projects?

    The challenges are that government’s resources are not finite. We have different things competing for scarce resources. We are all aware that within the four to five months, allocations from FAC, the money across every state has lost about 40 per cent; and this is affecting institution of project nationwide. In Delta we are also feeling this because we can’t go at the pace. Don’t forget that these projects are budgeted for, they have a time line. We make these projects smart, specific, reasonable and time bound.