FG Tackle Menace Of ‘Almajiris
The Director, Child Development, Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, Mrs. Ngozi Ezezika has said that government is working hard in tackling the challenges posed by the Almajiris.
“President Goodluck Jonathan has assured Nigerians that the Federal Government is committed to supporting the Almajiri school system, hence the decision to incorporate the system into Basic Education policy, Ezezika told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Monday.
“There is the need to plan for the Nigerian children because they are the future,†she said.
She explained that the plight of the Almajiris was pitiable because most of them had been turned into destitute in the country.
According to Ezezika, the almajiris are children who started as pupils under the tutelage of Islamic scholars only to end up as vulnerable children.
“In achieving the Vision 20:2020, there is the need to bring these children properly, by giving them their rights to survival, development, protection and participation, and the right to know everything they deserve to know,†she remarked.
“The UBE Act stipulates free and mandatory education for children up to the Junior Secondary School level.
“It is wrong for parents not to send their wards to school especially during school hours, parents do not have any reason whatsoever to default in the provisions of the law,†Ezezika said.
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