From Ahmed Kaigama, Bauchi
In its efforts to discourage begging in the state, the Bauchi state government has concluded plans to engage the teeming Qur’anic pupils, otherwise known as the ‘Almajiris’, into farming, with a view to rehabilitating them to become more productive and self-reliant .
The Director-General, Bauchi state ‘Tsangaya education, Sayyadi Aliyu Dahiru Bauchi disclosed this on Wednesday in Bauchi, during the presentation of appointment letters to 6,000 more Qur’anic teachers, who would benefit from the monthly N5, 000 allowance being paid to each ‘tsangaya’ teacher by the state government.
He said the present administration in the state has since its inception come up with several programmes to transform the ‘almajiri’ system of Islamic education, by creating the unprecedented office of a Director-General, Tsangaya education and the payment of salaries to over 11, 000 Qur’anic teachers selected from across the state.
This, according to him, has gone a long way in improving the plight of the beneficiaries, adding that if the pupils are also provided with sources of livelihood such as farmlands and inputs to work on, the problem of child begging will soon be a thing of the past.
