The Bauchi Government, on Wednesday, inaugurated a technical committee on Tsangaya and Islamiyya schools to improve the quality of education in the state.
In a speech during the event in Bauchi, the Commissioner for Education, Dr Muhammed Lawal, said the committee was expected to incorporate the Western education into the Islamiyya and Tsangaya (non-formal education) as a step towards providing quality education to every citizen of the state.
“It is also to ensure proper implementation of all the guidelines on the integration of Western education into the curriculum of non-formal education, incorporated and adopted as agreed upon,” he said.
Mr Lawal also said that setting up the committee was in line with the Federal Government’s new established structures for the integration of non-formal to formal education policy.
“We want to address the issue of out-of-school children and this idea came as a result of a roundtable meeting so as to see how we can work together and find a lasting solution to the issue of out-of-school children in the state,” he said.
He further said that, when fully integrated, the Islamiyya and Tsangaya schools would be operating with the new curriculum of Western education.
He said that the committee would also ensure that the ministry had accurate data of pupils in schools annually.
Mr Lawal urged parents to take advantage of the government’s huge investment to send their children to school.
Also, the Chairman, House Committee on Education in the state Assembly, Mr Nasir Ala, said that setting up a committee would help to develop the state’s education sector.
“I felt overwhelmed because on Nov. 18, 2024, I presented a motion on the floor of the House, urging the executive arm to remodel Quranic and Tsangaya as well as integrate foundation literacy.
“North Africa has accepted Islamic education, until recently, Nigeria has yet to accommodate Tsangaya and Quranic schools model in our Western education as formal education.
“This has created a misconception that Quranic and Tsangaya pupils are out-of-school children and this is because they are not formally recognised,’’ Ala said.
(NAN)
