UNICEF, Ganduje, Donates Cash, Food To Alamajiri Schools In Kano

Kano State Governor, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje

Kano State Governor, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, and the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) have on Sunday offered cash donations and food items to 1000 Islamic teachers drawn from 1000 Tsangaya (Almajiri) schools across the state as part of efforts to ensure that Kano records zero out-of-school children.

Speaking during the launching of Support for Integrated Qur’anic and Islamiyya Schools held at Kano Government House, Ganduje said the gesture was part of his free and compulsory basic and secondary education programme.

Ganduje, who expressed gratitude to development partners such as the DFID, World Bank and the UNICEF, pointed out that, “it is, therefore, with utmost sense of humility and gratitude to God that we launch the Islamiyya School Support programme by donation of food items and cash to 1000 Alaramas who are from 1000 Almajiri schools across the 44 Local Government Areas of the state.”

Ganduje particularly expressed gratitude to UNICEF for offering school improvement grant of N105 million ​ to Qu’ranic schools in the state.

According to him, “the presentation of symbolic cheques of N250, 000 UNICEF grant to each of the 10 out of the 440 Islammiyya Schools in the state is commendable.

“I wish to, therefore, pray to Allah to grant us the wherewithal to accomplish our goals and objectives of educating our people so that the present and future generation will reap the benefits of our modest efforts, Insha Allah.”

“At this juncture, I will like to express sincere gratitude to our development partners–the DFID, the World Bank; and in particular, the UNICEF that has exemplified tremendous goodwill by providing a grant of N105 million to support 420 Qu’ranic schools in Kano.

“This grant is in the sum of N250, 000 each to community-based management Committees. UNICEF is also partnering with us in the on-going census of the out-of-school children across the 44 Local Government Area of Kano state.”

He said already, the state government has ​ commenced the integration of Tsangaya Schools in the state into the conventional education system with the provision of teachers in English and Mathematics.

“To ​ support this effort, Tsangaya schools in the state ​ are being enumerated and registered for eventual integration. As such, we have now commenced a pilot scheme where at present, ​ 52 of the schools that have fulfilled the prerequisite criteria are currently being funded by the state government.

“This administration has also sent a committee to conduct a census of all out-of-school children so that they can be integrated into the free and compulsory basic and secondary education programme in Kano State.

“By this modest effort, you can bear witness that this government has shown the political will to implement this ambitious programme and we will leave no stone unturned until our goals and objective of providing free education to all children are attained.”

Ganduje also promised to sponsor Qu’aranic teachers for further studies in countries like Saudi Arabia so that they will be upgraded and more acquainted on the best way to impact Islamic knowledge to their students. ​ ​

​In his remarks, the Chief of UNICEF Kano Field Office, Mr Maulid Warfa, who was represented by Miki Koide, Education Specialist UNICEF, Kano Office, said UNICEF has distributed education improvement grants to over 300 schools and 420 Islamic Qu’aranic schools worth N180 million in collaboration with Kano state government.

He said UNICEF has planned to ensure that focus schools that used the grants judiciously and transparently may be selected on merit and also considered for another round of micro-project grants which will enable them to access at most N1.5 million each for school improvement to support Kano Government on the free and compulsory education in the state.