Governor Dikko Radda has promised a special scholarship to indigenes who memorised the holy qur’an, and have relevant five O’level credits to study Medicine or Nursing.

Mr Radda said this at a one-day stakeholders’ engagement hosted by the state’s Bureau of Statistics, on Monday in Katsina on reforming the Almajiri and Islamiyya system of education.

According to him, any indigene who memorised the Qur’an, and has the requirements, should present it as the state government will sponsor them from the beginning to the end of their study.

The governor also disclosed that through the Islamic Education Bureau, the state government would begin to organise a competition for the Qur’anic writers in Katsina. The one-day engagement was aimed to collate recommendations from participants on a better way to reform the system.

Mr Radda further said that looking at the level of street begging in the region, there was the need for the stakeholders to meet and provide plausible solutions for the menace. He explained that his door was always open for suggestions and recommendations on the way out, calling on the stakeholders to give the government maximum support.

The governor further assured the Tsangaya school proprietors in the state that the government would work hand in hand with them towards achieving the reform exercise.

Mr Radda added, “Our aim is to enhance the system, teaching and learning of the Holy Qur’an, in such a way it will benefit the teachers and the learners. Because anyone who memorises the Qur’an, is like a professor. By enhancing the system, it will provide an opportunity where the memorisers will have a certificate.”

He said that during the campaign, he had promised to establish Qur’anic recitation schools in the state, expressing hope that by the end of 2025, the first school will be inaugurated.

Isah Ali-Pantami, the former Minister of Communications and Digital Innovation, recommended the inclusion of skills training in the system. He said that the inclusion of the skills training will enable the Tsangaya school students to be self-reliant, therefore reducing street begging by those children.

Mansir Ibrahim-Sokoto, an Islamic scholar, and a lecturer at the Danfodio University, said he was also a product of Tsangaya school, therefore enhancing the system became necessary.

He advised Mr Radda to upgrade the Islamic education bureau to include supervision of Tsangaya and Islamiyya schools, and also provide a curriculum that can grade Islamic schools by issuing a certificate for the memorisers.

Similarly, Sheikh Nasir Dahiru-Bauchi, recommended the inclusion of Tsangaya school proprietors in any decision to be taken, saying that it was the only way to ensure the success of the reform exercise.

Sheikh Ibrahim Daurawa, also said Nigeria and Indonesia were top in the number of Qur’an memorisers across the world, saying, “No course that Qur’an memorisers cannot go for, and even become the best.”

He recommended that the state government should provide a better teaching and learning atmosphere for the schools, especially in terms of free feeding, access to healthcare, and also salary for the proprietors.

In a presentation, Umar Alkali from the University of Maiduguri, said that the reform initiated in 2012 to integrate Qur’anic and Western education, faced challenges, especially poor integration with the teachers, maintenance, and funding gaps.

He, therefore, suggested that such challenges needed to be addressed in the reform process, so as to have an acceptable and sustainable reform of the system.