Nigeria’s Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu has asserted that the Almajiri schools programme which was instituted in the North by the Goodluck Jonathan administration actually failed because it was not properly implemented and not because the North hates education.
Africa Today News, New York recalls Jonathan had sometime in February this year pointed out that the reason behind establishing the Almajiri schools programme in the North while in office was to infuse Western education curriculum into the Islamic education with the I am to make the pupils employable and check incessant crisis and insecurity.
He had at that occasion pointed out that his vision and philosophy of development for the country are based on education as there cannot be a functional society without a functional education system, noting that education remains the key to change the country.
However, Adamu, who was at the 47th session of the State House Ministerial Media Briefing organized by the Presidential Communications Team at the Presidential, Abuja, said the concept of how the school was to be run was not properly.
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‘I think the conception of almajiri schools and how to run them were not properly done by the government we inherited. But I know right now they are being incorporated into our schools.
‘As I told you, there are now about 6 million out-of-school children, probably some of them who are trooping here (Abuja), but certainly there should be government policy to stop the movement of almajiri or almajirai, as they’re called in Hausa, a provision should be made for instructing them wherever they are.’
The minister lamented that some governors of Northern States by their style of management were “destroying” education at the primary school level.
While responding to a question on nomadic education, noted that the scheme had suffered a similar fate as basic education in several core northern states.
The National Commission for Nomadic Education in 1989 to give nomads ‘unfettered access to basic education.’
Commenting on the state of the programme, Adamu said “The problem we have in nomadic education is like the problem I had when I came with my journalistic exuberance into government. I believed an emergency will be declared.
‘But on reflection, not by me, but by the government, we found that declaring the emergency is more of a matter for states. And so, my effort was directed at the states. When I presented my memo to the Council, I was asked to go and present it to the National Economic Council. And I presented the paper three times trying to convince state governments to see the wisdom in declaring emergency at least in the primary schools. And then that will strengthen the hand of the federal government even if by way of intervention to help the states to rescue primary schools.’
According to him, his efforts will “amount to nothing if the foundational education system is already rotten.”
‘The way our primary schools are…and I would like to say this about governors, especially in the northern states. It is as if they are looking for power to destroy education at the primary school level. Except for a few.
‘I don’t think there’s any governor who has any good story to say about primary education and nomadic education, the federal government is only making intervention.
‘So unless we have full cooperation from the States, I think achieving the objectives of nomadic education will take a long time to come. I hope states will change their attitude.’
Earlier in his presentation earlier, Adamu revealed that the Federal Government has so far identified 70 illegal universities and 125 Colleges of Education.