A lot of notable Nigerians passed through the Almajiri system of education in the past but turned out to become great in life. With the complex insecurity issues we have now in the country and the bastardization of almajiri system of education, like the National Security Adviser said recently, it is time to take a serious look at it and probably do away with it. One of the ways to end that practice which has helped to balloon the number of children out of school and the menace we find on the roads especially in northern Nigeria is through compulsory and free basic education. This is why when President Muhammadu Buhari urged State Governors to “enforce very vigorously” free and compulsory basic education for every child of primary and junior secondary school age it sent a good signal. He also reminded the Governors that providing free and compulsory education is a constitutional provision just as he warned that it was a crime for any parent to keep his child out of school.
Continuing, the President said that when a government fails to provide the schools, teachers and teaching materials necessary for basic education, it is actually aiding and abetting crime. He expressed the opinion that he would like to see every governor rally his Local Government chairmen towards ensuring that schools offer the right opportunities and provide the needed materials and teachers for basic education, at the minimum. This is a welcome development as free primary education is fundamental in guaranteeing everyone access to education. Section 18(3) of the 1999 Constitution as amended places on the federal and state government an obligation to eradicate illiteracy and provide free and compulsory education. Section 2 of the Compulsory, Free Universal Basic Education Act provides that every Government in Nigeria shall provide free, compulsory and universal basic education for every child of primary and junior secondary school age.
Furthermore, the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation, UNESCO Institute for Statistics, UIS in its 2015 estimates, based on people aged 15 or over who can read and write, stated that over 75 per cent of the world’s 781 million illiterate adults are found in South Asia, West Asia and sub-Saharan Africa and women represent almost two-third of all illiterate adults globally.
Interestingly, Seychelles, Equatorial Guinea, and South Africa all hold the first place as the most literate countries in Africa. These nations have a 95 per cent literacy rate in the population of over 15 years of age. According to a World Atlas Report, of the countries in the 95th percentile, Seychelles is the only one to have achieved the six goals set forth by UNESCO Education for All programme. These goals, which were to be met by 2015, include: establishing free primary education, improve the quality of education, improve childhood education, improve adult literacy by 50 per cent, provide gender equality in the classroom, and address the educational needs of youth and adults. Equatorial Guinea on its part made significant progress toward the Education for All goals, achieving a preschool enrolment of over 70 per cent in 2015.
Currently the number of out-of school children in Nigeria stands at about 10.5 million. This is attributable largely to the Boko Haram insurgency in the North East and the almajiri system in the rest of the north. We see them everyday roam the streets begging for food to eat and constituting nuisance to everyone. Unfortunately, interventions to help increase literacy both for children and adults are not making desired impact. The establishment of the Nigerian National Commission for Nomadic Education in 1989 for nomads to acquire literacy skills has failed to achieve its objectives. The school feeding programme of the Buhari administration made to increase enrolment in school, as a policy is still work in progress. The Almajiri schools established by the Jonathan administration have simply collapsed.
We think that there is no need to set up special schools targeting certain persons or category of persons. Let every Nigerian child be forced to participate in the basic education programme. Yes each state with her peculiarity may fashion out incentives to aid enrolment and retention. This said, we are also interested in the quality of the free education than just free education as the schools that are supposedly free are public schools. Unfortunately, over the years, the government, at all levels, had been paying lip service to education Most of the public school buildings are dilapidated and not fit for learning.
We suggest that the president must press home his point on education with a clear cut policy. This will start by who he appoints as Education minister. There is terrible corruption in that sector; therefore the system requires a steady and fierce person that can take on the various corrupt cabals. We need teachers that are patriotic who will not receive bribes to pass ill-educated kids. The president must be ready to spend more money too, so should state governors. There should be a national consensus on this matter in the next few months so that we can properly take off the process to eradicate illiteracy and particularly almajiri from our streets.
