Governor Nasir El-Rufa’i warned that parents who enroll their kids into the Almajirai education system risk up to two years jail.
Any Islamic cleric who enrolls any child into the Almajiri system would also be prosecuted and jailed as well as fined N100,000 or N200,000 per child.
The governor stressed that each child in Kaduna state must get 12-year free and compulsory primary and secondary school education.
Governor Nasir El-Rufa’i of Kaduna State has warned that parents who enroll their kids into the Almajirai education system stand the risk of prosecution and up to two years jail.
El-Rufa’i acknowledged this in Kaduna yesterday when he visited some 200 Almajiri children repatriated from Nasarawa State and undergoing rehabilitation and optical screening at Government College, Kurmin Mashi, Kaduna.
The governor additionally stated that any Islamic cleric who enrolls any child into the Almajiri system would also be prosecuted and jailed as well as fined N100,000 or N200,000 per child.
He stated that all the Almajiri pupils repatriated from different states of the nation have been indigenes of the state, including that the government would give all of them the chance they deserved to grow and develop.
El-Rufai expressed satisfaction with the ongoing transformation of the Almajiri pupils from hopelessness to hope and confidence.
In accordance with him, the state has a duty to do whatever it will probably to offer them hope and a greater future.
“We’ll, therefore, continue to take delivery of every Almajiri pupil indigenous to Kaduna state for rehabilitation, treatment and enrollment into formal school nearest to where their parents live.
“We’ll continue to do this until we clear Kaduna state of the menace of Almajiri system, which is not education but the abuse of the privilege and future of a child.
“Our ultimate goal is for them to acquire formal education without depriving them of the opportunity to acquire Quranic education.
“They will continue their Quranic education but under the care of their parents and not under someone who does not know them or paid to look after them.”
He explained that the Ministry of Human Services and Social Development (MHSSD), together with UNICEF would carefully monitor them and make sure that no child would leave his locality till he completed primary and junior secondary school.
The governor stressed that each child in Kaduna state must get 12-year free and compulsory primary and secondary school education.
“Those that cannot proceed to senior secondary school will have the opportunity to go to vocational school, also free.
“As such, no parent has any excuse for his child not to go to school,” El-Rufa’i stated.
He thanked MHSSD and other state agencies for the dedication and passion for the welfare of the kids.
He equally thanked AMA foundation and other NGOs and civil societies for supporting the government to supply the Almajiri pupils with the needed medical care, meals, and clothes, amongst others.
The governor significantly appreciated UNICEF for supporting the state authorities in making certain that all the repatriated children properly documented.
El-Rufai stated that the care and support provided had restored the sense of dignity of the kids.
