Governor of Katsina State, Aminu Bello Masari on Tuesady rejected calls for the scrapping of Almajiri Islamic Education System practiced in the Northern part of Nigeria.
He insisted that reforming the system and repositioning it to address perceived educational imbalance and the out-of-school-children-syndrome in this part of the country will be more viable.
Masari who made the declaration while receiving audience, members of the board of directors of the Universal Basic education, UBEC, in the North West Region, led by Senator Abubakar Sadiq, observed that repositioning basic education in the North West is in tandem with the principles of his pet dream’ ‘’Restoration Agenda.’’
He said ’’addressing the Almajiri System of education requires drawing the line between Almajiri and beggars’’
”The Almajiri education system requires improved infrastructure and their conditions while in the care of their Malams. Also there must be improved sanitation and clean environment, ensuring skill acquisition and improved living conditions.’’
He further added that more qualified teachers drawn from Western subjects like English and mathematics should also be deployed, so that products from the Almajiri education can compete favourably and be self reliant.
In a related development the Governor has stressed the need for humanitarian organizations to continue to uplift the well-being of the less privilege in the society, especially through education
Masari who made the call while receiving the Managing Director of Aliko Dangote Foundation, Zouera Youssoufou, who paid him a courtesy call at government house, maintained that government alone could not shoulder the responsibility of providing the needs of the populace.
He welcomed the decision by Aliko Dangote Foundation to empower 34,000 women in the state.
Earlier, the Managing Director of the foundation, Zouera Youssoufou told Governor Masari that the foundation plans to empower one thousand women in the 774 local governments in Nigeria with ten thousand naira each.