FG Boosts Qur’anic Education with N90m by Frank Oke
The Federal Government has disbursed N90million to 15 Northern States for the implementation of the Qur’anic Integration Project aimed at giving formal education access to about 7 million children.
The Minister of State for Education, Aishat Jubril Dukku who disclosed this during the presentation of cheques to the benefiting states, said Nigeria cannot in real terms achieve universal basic education if the almajarai (street boys) and other vulnerable groups are not given ample opportunity and encouraged to utilize available basic education opportunities.
According to Dukku, the government had in its efforts to ensure eradication of illiteracy, charged all relevant agencies to work hard at proffering practical solutions towards addressing the challenges that inhibit the full realization of the potentials of the almajarai, building on successes recorded by the Qur’anic schools.
She therefore urged the benefiting states to map out concrete styrategies for specialized capacity building programmes for the operators of the Qur’anic schools as well as sustainable mechanism to ensure Qur’anic school teachers, supervisors and other officers handling this level of education are catered for.
“Emphasis should be laid not only in training fresh teachers and officials of the programme but also on the training of the existing ones in the schools. This will go a long way in enhancing not only their capacity but engendering their support which is central and crucial to successful programme implementation,” she said.
She cautioned the benefiting states to eschew corruption while implementing the project, adding that “it therefore behoves the beneficiary states to ensure that the fund utilization is in line with extant guidelines and in the true spirit of transparency and accountability”
Speaking earlier, Executive Secretary of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) Dr. Ahmed Modibbo Muhammed said the event is evidence that government is committed to ensuring inclusive education for all groups.
Muhammed stated that one of the cardinal objectives of the UBEC is to provide educational access to all Nigerian children, youths and adults who because of cultural and socio-economic reasons could not participate adequately in existing formal and non-formal education programmes.
The UBEC boss noted that a large number of this group are children currently enrolled in Qur’anic schools and do not benefit from existing formal and non-formal education which they are entitled to.
He said “Denying access to basic education for this sizeable group of children will seriously undermine the objectives of the UBE programme, attainment of Education For All (EFA), as well as the MDGs.
The beneficiary states are Adamawa, Kebbi, Katsina, Yobe, Kwara, Nasarawa, Sokoto, Kano, Gombe, Niger, Kaduna, Jigawa, Bauchi, Zamfara and Borno states.
