Former Federal Commissioner of Information, Chief Edwin Clark, has said predicted a bright and rewarding future for the almajiris in Nigeria.According to Daily Trust, Clark stated this on Tuesday, when the Goodluck Jonathan Almajiri Support Initiative Group and the executive council of the National Youth Leaders of Nigeria paid him a visit in his Abuja home.He posited that President Jonathan is the only President in Nigeria that remembered the almajiri, adding that the northern governors have not done anything for them.It would be recalled that as part of attempts to remove the growing figure of over four million children beggars from the streets of Nigeria, the federal government begun the establishment of 400 almajiri schools across the North.The initiative is the first ever government intervention in the almajiri problems in the history of Nigeria.If anything, Nigeria’s Almajiris have been denied every single right enshrined in the Child Rights Convention. These street urchins are a product of a failed Islamic education system and impoverished homes. They are deserted or are turned out from their parents’ homes as early in life as age 5 or 6, to live with and memorize the Quran from teachers in local madrassas.The children are put under the care of these Mallams and although they are the guardians of these helpless children, they end up being neglected and exploited. These children are sent out to beg every day by their teachers and most times, the food they eat depends on what they bring in. These children are sometimes the only source of livelihood for their Mallams.History has shown that, the almajiri system started in the 11th century as a result of the involvement of Borno rulers in Qur’anic literacy. Over seven hundred years later, the Sokoto Caliphate was founded principally through an Islamic revolution based on the teachings of the Holy Qur’an. These two empires run similar Qur’anic learning system which over time came to be known as the Almajiri system.
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