ALMAJIRANCI SYNDROME AS A FORM OF CHILD ABUSE

ALMAJIRANCI SYNDROME AS A FORM OF CHILD ABUSE

DEFINITION OF ALMAJIRANCI

According to Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almajiranci

Almajiranci is a system of Islamic education practiced in northern Nigeria and it is also the name for a young boy who is taught within this system, the system is called Almajiranci, the male gender seeking Islam knowledge is called Almajiri, female gender is Almajira, and the plural is (almajirai). The system encourages parents to leave parental responsibilities to the attached Islamic school. The Hausa word Almajiri is derived from the Arabic word, “al-Muhajirun,” which refers to a person who migrated his home in search of Islamic knowledge.

Almajiranci syndrome can be said to be another form of child abuse, in the sense that children are exposed to laborious work at tender age, normally children between the ages of seven and twenty. Their mallams cannot feed nor provide the necessities of life for them therefore they embark on begging or laboured work in order to survive and gain.

The Almajiranci syndrome or phenomenon is alarming because It takes a different dimension compared to the initial idea of Almajiri formation. Almajirai plural of almajiri are children that are sent to school for learning by parents, but instead of doing what they are expected to, they will be seen roaming the street begging and engaging in unnecessary activities in which they will eventually became a burden to the society due to lack of career guidance and counselling by teachers.

CAUSES

Economic conditions worsen the situation

One school of thought suggests that Almajiri schools have outlived their usefulness. According to Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State, “Almajiri syndrome is depleting the north of needed manpower for its regional growth and development.” The Governor also suggested that as many as three million children were roaming the streets of Kano State as Almajiri pupils.

The surge in the numbers can be attributed to the combination of a high fertility rate and increasing poverty levels in the North. As a result, many children are born to parents without the means to fund their education. Moreover, many public schools in the North do not differ significantly from the Almajiri schools themselves; usually under-funded, with depleting structures, and a high student to teacher ratio. So, even when there is a will by the children and parents to attend more inclusive schools, access to a better learning environment is limited.

Poverty and under-development lie at the heart of this beggarly and destitute lifestyle. If the parents had access to better economic opportunities, they would choose more inclusive schools, as the knowledge they obtain from Tsangaya alone cannot help the children build skills they need to be functional in present-day society or come out of that circle of poverty. Meanwhile, it appears even the time that should be spent learning the Qur’an is used to beg for alms and food.

It used to be a common sight witnessing boys begging, but, more recently, girls can be found clinging to passers-by and in moving traffic. These girls are known as Almajira(s). Without underplaying the plight of the Alamajiri boys, the inclusion of girls is particularly worrisome, given the broader gender issues in the region and greater vulnerability for girls when it comes to sexual exploitation.

Irrespective of gender, Section 30 of the Child Rights Acts states: “a child shall not be used for the purpose of begging for alms, guiding beggars, prostitution, domestic or sexual labour or for any unlawful or immoral purpose.”

Usually a child becomes an Almajiri when there is high striking poverty line in his family to take care of his essential needs such as sustenance. Some children are forced to become one simply when they lose their parents and when their relatives or guardians cannot keep them. Most of such children become victims when their parents send them to Quranic schools outside their hometowns.

A child is usually taken away from his parents, his relatives, and his home to some remote areas for the purpose of learning the recitation of holy Qur’an. At the end of the day the child will learn less If any about the. Qur’an recitation and more mischievous acts. This exercise is prevailing in the northern part of Nigeria as the Hausa/Fulani are predominantly Moslems and settlers of the north.

EFFECT

1. These girls are known as Almajira(s). Without underplaying the plight of the Alamajiri boys, the inclusion of girls is particularly worrisome, given the broader gender issues in the region and greater vulnerability for girls when it comes to sexual exploitation.

Irrespective of gender, Section 30 of the Child Rights Acts states: “a child shall not be used for the purpose of begging for alms, guiding beggars, prostitution, domestic or sexual labour or for any unlawful or immoral purpose.”

• Health workers say they are vulnerable to diseases and social crimes. These beggar children are found on Zaria Road, one of Kano’s major streets. In order to survive, they beg from dusk to dawn every day. After begging, they return to their makaranta, or school, or are left on the streets.

• Social psychologists also noted that when a child is exposed to labour at a tender age and deprived with little or no benefit and entertainment, such child normally develops the habit of loneliness and thus lead to schizophrenia, therefore children’s right must be protected, preserved and maintained, similarly they should be given equal rights and priviledges as adults for a brighter future. The primary or basic children’s needs are right to education, health, entertainment, association, interaction, shelter and nutrition. Once these essential needs are provided, there is no doubt that they can perform wonderfully in their undertakings and can deliver as leaders of tomorrow.

• Such children (the Almajirai’) are usually aggressive and violent as they are exposed to different forms of pressure, problems, hunger and jobs that demand several times their energy and weight before the job Is accomplished. Some of them do go to restaurants to wash plates, fetch water so that they will be given left over foods. They are all over the streets, very dirty, hungry thirsty, they lack all kinds of necessities of life and at times they cause traffic hazards.

• Child labour is a fundamental factor of child abuse, these children who are laboured about in our communities are our children. They are the leaders of tommorrow as aged ones are dying up the younger ones replace them. They are our future hope and pillars, without which the future may look bleak in terms of development, because all these violent exhibiting children grow up to become criminals in the society within which they live, hence set back in the society because the increase in number of crime that is being attributed to increase of criminals in the society.

• This issue of begging is more common in the northern part of Nigeria where the children are being denied their rights including the right to western education. As the case may be, these children turn out to be loosers in whatever perspective because some of them may not concentrate to learn even the spiritual knowledge they are sent for talkless of the western education. They are automatically denied.

SOLUTIONS

WHAT SHOULD BE DONE?

In proffering a solution, it is first important to change the way we view and treat the Almajiri, not as “one of them” but as “one of us”; not as potential terrorists but as victims of a failed system.

1. The idea behind the Almajiri system may be worth preserving, but the schools ought to be properly integrated into the educational sector and their curriculums upgraded and revised in a way that allows the students get both Quranic and secular education.

• Local communities and religious leaders also have a role to play in governing the system.