It is a lip-shattering harmattan morning, on Monday, at exactly 9:45 am; the williwaw-wind assails the journalist left and right, back and front as if to befall him. He has just alighted — from a rack-dangling motorcycle — in front of the Tsangaya School, Gagi in Sokoto state. Since the security man is nowhere to be found, he heads straight to the reception room, where a cluster of cobwebs welcomes his red-watery eyes. The principal is also nowhere to be found and no one knows his whereabouts.
“Federal government has so far constructed 35 of such model schools. States with large populations of Almajiri will have both boarding and day schools. As if that is not enough, UNICEF also statistically states that"in north-eastern and north-western states, 29 percent and 35 percent of Muslim children, respectively, receive Qur’anic education, which does not include basic skills such as literacy and numeracy. The government considers children attending such schools to be officially out-of-school."
In class two, the children are left alone; their teachers are nowhere to be found. They've not had any class today thus; the class room is bombarded with the rowdiness of the left-alone students, who have hardly known why they are in school as kids."Good morning" and other clichéd pleasantries in elementary schools seem to be the only English locutions well understood by the entire students.
His name is Malam Husseini Muhammad; at first sight on a Saturday — which is one of the working days of the school — the good-morning-sir courtesy greeting muttered by the reporter to the man receives a go-that-way reaction. The principal instantly directs the journalist to his vice, who, unknown to him, has been met previously on Monday."Go back to the principal," says the vice in his local parlance."He's the one to talk to you, not me.
Make no mistake: the school uniform should be free but the said Principal makes mischievous gains by monitising it for parents of the vulnerable children who intend to enroll their offspring. When asked, the Vice- Principal affirms that"the uniform comes with no payment.
Stand a bit aloof, opposite the hostel, and what you will be made to see is a half-roofless residence of the poor pupils, as at the times of visitations. Leaky roof, filthy toilets, bed-less bunks and tattered mats are what the hostel rooms are made of. Not even the teacher can bear the malodors of the unhygienic school toilet; rather, he lets in the journalist. The reporter's left leg lands on stench feces suspected to be newly defecated. And, a peep into the toilet looks disgusting.
They bring the kids here to the street of Lagos to beg for money.... shame on the north
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Woman donates school for women, children – Daily TrustA Sokoto woman, Hajiya Hajaru Haruna, has built a school for women and children at Tudun Wada in Sokoto-South local government area of Sokoto state and dedicated the reward from it to her late father. The well-furnished three-classroom school with two toilets and a principal’s office was handed over to the Muslim Sisters Organization (MSO) …
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