Governor Nasiru El-Rufai of Kaduna State has disclosed that it will arrest and jail parents who enroll their children into the Almajiri system of education. He said parents found guilty of this offence will be sentenced to 2 years imprisonment.
The governor stated this when he visited 200 Almajiri children repatriated from Nasarawa State and undergoing rehabilitation and optical screening at Government College, Kurmin Mashi, Kaduna, on Monday.
Speaking during the visit, El-Rufai said any Islamic cleric who enrolls any child into the Almajiri system would also be prosecuted, jailed, and fined N100,000 or N200,000 per child. The governor while expressing his delight at the rehabilitation of the repatriated Almajiris, said the state has a responsibility to do whatever it can to give them hope and a better future.
“We will, 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 will 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 said
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