The Almajiri Syndrome and Acquisition
of Knowledge
By
Mohammed Bala
mohammedbala@hotmail.com
In the olden days when the quest to acquire knowledge was
prevalent,
especially the Koranic knowledge by the Muslims, there were no laid
down
procedures or channels to adopt in obtaining such, except the
unconventional
way of handing over your ward to a supposedly teacher, known as Mallam.
It
was this Mallam that now enlist your child and the teaching of
religious
scriptures and way of life are indoctrinated into the young pupils. It
was
so perfect and rewarding that highly educated Sheikhs and Mullas who
became
successful in life by holding positions of judges and teachers that
were
moulding the minds of the young on how to become righteous and
exemplary in
their future lives. However, when the civilized life styles of the west
started encroaching into the big cities of the north, some of these
Mallams
became allured to the greed for money and started migrating to the
cities
and towns with their pupils and subjected them to the vagaries of the
streets.
One teacher can register up to a hundred and more pupils who he
singularly
keeps, guides and controlled. To keep them fed and accommodated are
also
part of the teacher's responsibilities. But nowadays even to keep and
feed
one hundred mouths is not easy, and perhaps impossible. But life must
go on,
and the pupils have to, as a must, acquire the knowledge their parents
sent
them to do. The little stipends the parents were able to give their
wards
for them and the teachers hardly sustains them for a month, so an
alternative means of getting more income has to be employed. During the
day time, when there are no classes the pupils are allowed to
stretch into the town and wander around until when classes were to
begin. It
is this going about around the town that affords the pupils to engage
in
menial jobs that fetches them some little amounts. This also was kind
of
stopped by the people because they have other means of doing such jobs
and
so the pupils venture into house to house begging for remnants of food
to
eat. It is also said that the pupils take back part of this food to the
teacher. It is clear from the above, that the teacher himself is
gaining
from the engagements of the pupils in the town, and can do anything to
sustain it.
For one to really appreciate and understand the inner workings of the
system, one has to have an experienced the trend. It is believed that
only
someone that had once been a pupil during their childhood under the
roving
Mallams can have the urge and strong conviction to send their sons to
them.
Otherwise, there is no cogent reason for any one to convert his ward to
an
Almajiri despite our having conventional and well equipped Islamiyya
Schools
all over the place where they can go and learn well and come back home
to
their parents after School. For one, the teacher you entrust your
child's
education might not be having enough knowledge to impart on your child
and
perhaps you might not even know from where he comes from, or heading
to. The
fact that by handing over one's child to such Teachers who live away
from
where you live, is enough worry, for it will deprive the child the much
needed parental care.
The system that was hitherto organized and well charted, has now been
bastardized and abused to the extent of letting our children roam
streets
and picking remnants of food leftover from dustbins. One other aspect
of the
system that has been abused nowadays is the degenerated value of trust
and
togetherness that our forefathers have lived and died with. This issue
of
lack of trusts is as a result of the changing world in terms
orientation and
our rush for acquiring the status of a civilized lot. Couple with this
is
also the governments non challant attitude of fending for the citizenry
that
results in thousands of our youths daily roaming the streets looking
for
what to eat.
The first step to be taken in ameliorating the hardships being
generated by
Almajiri and their sponsors, is for the governments at both levels to
appreciate the fact that these people are also Nigerians and that they
deserve to be treated as such. When this is done, governments should
now
embark on building schools that will teach both Koranic and western
education. It will then make it compulsory and incumbent on parents to
take
their wards to such schools and obtain admission for them. Failure of
parents to comply with the government's directive, a punitive should be
taken. The governments also should use appropriately, the social
welfare
offices all over the country, to obtain a comprehensive list and data
of all
youngsters that have no surviving parents. These data can adequately
be
used to offer assistance to such wayward citizens.
That governments should ban the modus operandi whereby people just out
of
the blues take about a hundred or more kids and travel with them from
one
town to the other, subjecting them to harsh and sometimes unbearable
conditions. These range from street begging and perhaps even picking
pockets
which renders the kids useless to the parents and the society. It is
equally
the responsibility of the authorities to make compulsory on all parents
to
enroll their children in the only recognized schools for acquiring both
Koranic and western education. It is worthy of note here, that these
schools
are springing up all over the place and doing just very well in
academic
performance. Once these schools are given the desired recognition and
support by government and the wealthy individuals, the retinue of
youths
along the streets will drastically be reduced, and one day, might be
phased
out phased out completely.
Parents have a bigger role to play by resisting the urge to give their
sons
out to the wandering teachers, who could take them to destinations that
are
unknown to the parents. Unless a father takes into account the future
well
being of his son or daughter into consideration, and having him/her
grow and
attain maturity right under his personal coaching, the child will never
get
that type of good and decent character moulding else where. Therefore,
there
is no doubt that a child who grew up under the care of both parents
enjoys
maximum care and support that the one who did not enjoy growing up
before his
parents.
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