In the wake of several almajiri children testing positive to COVID-19 after evacuation from Kano State, the state Commissioner for Education, Muhammad Sanusi Kiru, has said that 431 almajiris will now be quarantined before sending them back to their respective states.
The Commissioner who disclosed this during an interview with Sunday Vanguard however clarified that the almajiri children who tested positive for COVID-19 showed no symptom of the virus before deporting them, which was why they were not tested prior to evacuation.
Vanguard quoting Kiru said:
“We have so far evacuated 1,072 almajirai. We took 419 to Katsina, 524 to Jigawa, 155 to Kaduna, 38 belong to Bauchi while Gombe has 36.
“We are also quarantining 431 belonging to Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara. And we work with our personnel in the Ministry of Health to screen them before we evacuate them.
“You may see me healthy today but may have the virus. Maybe the symptoms will manifest in the next nine, 10, or 14 days. You can use a thermometre and discover that my temperature is normal today. In the next few days, I may start showing the symptoms. So there is nothing new. It is when somebody shows symptoms that you collect his sample.”
Disclosing the origin of almajiri, Kiru said:
“They said it themselves and their mallam, who keeps them, said so. When you ask them, they will tell you their ward, local government and state.
“They may come back but in a different way. What we are saying is we are not after almajirinci. What we are after is street begging. And that is what we are chasing.
“As long as we remain in charge, we will never allow begging to continue. We have to define the future of our children. We cannot just allow them to be roaming the streets.
“If you want to establish a Qur’anic school, we have new regulations that must be followed. You must make provision for their feeding.”
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