A Fine Blend of Faith, Education
Leveraging her religious platform, a woman champions education for out-of-school children in conflict-affected northeast Nigeria
The sheer number of colourful flipflops at the entrance of a local Islamic seminary, popularly called Tsangaya, in Gashua, a town in Nigeria’s northeast State of Yobe, is enough to attract the interest of any curious visitor. But wait till you meet the unlikely founder of this Tsangaya, which has recently added literacy and numeracy lessons to its curriculum.
In a region where women and girls are unlikely to be at the forefront of faith and education, Habiba Aliyu, the 52-year-old founder of Makaranta Mallama Habiba Aliyu seminary is an embodiment of a fine blend of faith and literacy.
Established 22 years ago to provide daily qur’anic (religious lessons) for children in the community, the seminary is still operating from the same location where it held its first lessons in 2002. Things changed when in 2023, Habiba expanded the syllabus of the seminary to include basic concepts of literacy to the over 200 children in her care.
With the development, the Tsangaya centre has become one of the few to integrate literacy and numeracy lessons for the benefit of children. UNICEF, with funding from the German Development Bank (BMZ), is supporting the initiative with mats, learning materials, handwashing stations, and stipends for two additional teachers who are facilitating numeracy and literacy classes.
Still in the throes of protracted conflict, more than 1.5 million children are out-of-school in northeast Nigeria on account of the Boko Haram insurgency that has been raging since 2009. Habiba’s initiative is helping to reduce the burden of illiteracy in the region. With funding from BMZ and other partners, UNICEF is supporting 680 Tsangaya centres providing numeracy and literacy classes across Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states.
A mother of three, Habiba credits her love for education for the change in her seminary.
I completed primary school education but had to stop due to lack of support. I have three children, and all of them are educated and learned in the Islamic faith as well. One of my children is in the army and another one just got admission into a school of nursing.
I know that the future of these children is at stake and that is why I decided that we must introduce basic literacy lessons here. There has been no opposition, in fact, the population of children increased. People are even begging to register their children and we had to recruit two more teachers with support from UNICEF," she said.
The proprietor says she has no regret for her actions and has been encouraging other seminaries to introduce education into their curriculum.
An illiterate person is like a corpse. When you have only one kind of knowledge, you are severely limited. But when you have more, you will be sound, and you are likely to go higher. The children here are not ordinary. I know that among these children will be governors and engineers. Even when I am no longer alive, these children will never forget me. It is a decision that will outlast me,’’ she adds.
