Mixing the modern and the traditional

摘要

Rag-clad boys, proffering plastic bowls and calling out for cash, line the streets of most big cities in Nigeria's Muslim north. But they are not street kids. These are almajiri children, students of Islamic schools who have been sent from their homes to learn their religion. Almajiri means "immigrant", signifying that the children come from far and wide to imbibe Islamic values. In Yola, capital of the north-eastern state of Adamawa, a 12-year-old called Abdul says he was sent by his parents to one such school two years ago and has not seen them since. Early in the morning and at night, he joins more than 100 other students in a shabby hut to recite verses of the Koran. The rest of the day he spends on the street begging for scraps, which he takes back to his mallam, the teacher now responsible for him.