Almajri and the Eluding Hope of Accessing Basic Education in Nigeria during COVID-19

By Chidi Ezegwu

In many Nigerian cities, especially in the northern parts of the country, often dirty and shabbily dressed boys roam the streets with plastic bowls begging for alms. They are the almajiri (almajirai in plural), who are traditionally seen as itinerant religious school pupils that are attending various Qur’anic, Islamiyya, and Tsangaya Islamic schools. The term ‘almajiri’ is a local Hausa term that refers to knowledge seekers, especially those that travel from place to place in search of Islamic religious knowledge. While they are traditionally considered learners, they are not formally recognized as pupils by Nigeria’s formal education system. Instead, they are categorized as out-of-school children and largely discussed as street children or as trafficked children. A child destitution bill to the Nigerian National Assembly includes almajiri among the destitute. Although differently defined, one thing is certain: the practice contributes to sustaining the county’s status of having the worst access to education in the world. According to Save the Children, Nigeria has about 13.2 million school-age children that are not in school, constituting the largest population of out-of-school children in the world, of which 12.6 million (95%) are in the northern part of the country.

Whilst governments and families are concerned about how to ensure children continue to learn while schools are temporarily closed in response to COVID-19,out-of-school children are not a  mainstream priority. For example, the Nigeria Education Sector COVID-19 Response Strategy in North East specifically notes that the COVID-19 Education Response Strategy targets “learners who have lost access to learning due to school closure COVID-19 as opposed to simply targeting out of school children”. This lopsided approach to children’s education negates the global effort to ensure education for all and highlights the failure to address growing educational inequality in the country.

Also, while a search for an effective framework for other children’s education continues, almajiri children are in the news for a different reason: as one writer puts it, almajiri children are rejected home and away. As COVID-19 spread across Nigeria, the governors of northern states resolved to evacuate almajirai to their home states. This sparked a chain of migration, repatriation and rejection of the children. Many states rejected the return of almajiri children, whilst other states chose to test them for COVID-19, of whom many tested positive. The high number of almajirai testing positive for COVID-19 alongside the rejection of almajiri children from entering many states has further sparked fear that they may be spreading the virus. The level of fear was also heightened by the ‘mid-night migrations’ of the almajirai to different states, especially to southern Nigeria states.  Some of them were reported to have been caught in large numbers hidden in containers and trailerstogether with cattle and goods despite a ban on interstate movement by the Nigerian government. In one particular case, a lorry conveying up to 200 Almajiri youths to another state was intercepted. The question of their rights and particularly the right to education seems to have been a forgotten issue.

Some stakeholders’ responses to government education initiatives and demand for children’s rights to education during the COVID-19 pandemic have largely focused on children with special needs in addition to other vulnerable children. Possibly, they are still regarded as a minority in Nigeria’s education system, yet various data suggests they may constitute the largest category of the country’s 13.2 million out of school children. However, data is neither consistent on the actual number of children that are out of school, nor on whether more males or more females are out of school in Nigeria. While some studies insist that there are more girls than boys that are out of school in the country, when the number of out of children in Nigeria stood at about 10.5 million out-of-school children in 2010, more than 8.5 million of them were reported to be almajirai, most of which are reported to be boys. The country’s Universal Basic Education (UBEC) specifically reported that almajirai numbered over nine Million around 2010.

As part of the Universal Basic Education (UBE) programme in Nigeria, a National Committee on Implementation of Almajiri Education was established to ensure integration of almajirai and their traditional Qur’anic schools into the UBE scheme. This led to the institution of Integrated Almajiri Education Programme and the eventual establishment of various integrated Qur’anic (almajiri) schools in many parts of northern Nigeria. The integrated schools were designed to offer a combination of formal and religious education for almajiri children. Up to 157 almajiri model schools were completed and handed over to States Universal Basic Education Boards (SUBEBs) by June 2015. However, not long after completion, many of these schools were abandoned because they did not gain local support and the state governments did not have the political will to support them.

Considering the failed previous efforts to solve the almajiri education problem and their outright negligence in education conversation in the COVID-19 era, many questions still remain unanswered. Why are almajirai being treated with repatriation and rejection instead of support and education? Considering the failure and rejection of integrated  almajiri schools, what alternative framework would work for providing education to them? With the increasing need to maintain social distancing, what opportunity exists in education for these children who often move about in groups? As families are adapting to online education for their children, what educational options are available for the children? If the states failed to give them education in the pre-COVID-19 era, will they have it in the (post)COVID-19 era?

Chidi Ezegwu is a multidisciplinary research and development specialist with twelve years of leadership, coaching, research and development experiences.

---

Opinions expressed on the CEID Blog are only those of the author, not the Centre for Education and International Development or the UCL Institute of Education.

Want to publish a blog post? Send us a submission or idea.