KEY POINTS
- FG to rehabilitate 157 abandoned Almajiri schools built under Jonathan’s military regime.
- The initiatives tackle Almajiri and out of school children crisis.
- CSACEFA seeks higher education funding and better accountability.
The Federal Government plans to take over the administration of 157 Almajiri schools, which were set up before the end of President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration but were abandoned by successive governments.
This is part of a broader response to the growing crisis of Almajiri and out of school children in Nigeria.
Reviving abandoned schools
Speaking at the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Civil Society Action Coalition on Education for All (CSACEFA), in Yola, Adamawa State, Executive Secretary of the National Commission for Almajiri and Out of School Children (NCAOSC), Idris Sani, announced that the initiative.
The commission has told Sani that it needs federal support to repair the dilapidated schools and return them to their traditional role of educating poor children. “We are finalising arrangements to take over the 157 Almajiri schools and rehabilitate the schools for normal academic activities,” Sani said.
Collaboration for sustainable impact
The NCAOSC and the National Board for Arabic and Islamic Studies (NBAIS) will deploy staff to the schools after rehabilitating them. However, Sani stressed the need for collective action to solve the out of school children crisis which is still a challenge to Nigeria’s education system.
The National Coordinator CSACEFA, Odinaka Chimbama, called on the government to finance increased education budget, and pledged CSACEFA’s support for the initiative. The funding gap is still a strong obstacle to progress, and the government must meet UNESCO’s recommended budgetary benchmark of 15 to 20 percent, Chimbama added.
He said ‘Nation’s development hinges on investment in education.’ ‘But even the little that is allocated to the sector is often mismanaged, amplifying the problem even further.’ She also called for greater levels of accountability regarding the use of funding for education so as to achieve appropriate implementation of policies.
A first step to solving the problems of education
This is the initiative to rehabilitate Almajiri schools and it is a turn in Nigeria’s education challenges, particularly in the Northern part of the country. Its aim is to serve as a route for the millions of out of school children to access formal education and contribute to national development goals in general.
