Kaduna State Governor Nasir el-Rufai has promised the 218 almajirai who recently returned to the state and tested negative for COVID-19 will get free primary and secondary education, under the state government’s sponsorship.
“Every child in Kaduna has equal opportunity and access to 12 years of free and compulsory education in our public schools,” he added.
On his Facebook page, the governor said that he was “pleased to see our almajiri children, the batch of 218 from Kano, Nasarawa, Plateau and Gombe states looking well and free of COVID-19.”
According to him, with the support of United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Aminu Musa Abdulsalam (AMA) Foundation, as well as other non-governmental organisations and philanthropists, the children’s full human rights, dignity and hope are restored.
The governor disclosed that the next step was for the Commissioner for Human Services and Social Development, Mrs. Hafsat Baba, and her team, in collaboration with council chairmen and traditional rulers, to return the children to their parents.
He insisted: “All the children are to be compulsorily enrolled in the primary school nearest to them, so they have modern education and life skills in the morning, and continue their quranic or Islamic education in the afternoon and over the weekend. That is how many of us got our education. That is what the Northern Governors’ Forum decided. These children may the future of Northern Nigeria.”
The Guardian