Alaramma Illiyasu was not always a supporter of modernizing Islamic education. When former President Goodluck Jonathan launched Tsangaya schools in 2012, designed to bring out-of-school children known as Almajirai into a more structured learning environment across northern Nigeria, Illiyasu was among the conservative Islamic clerics who pushed back hard. The fear was straightforward: that modern schooling would chip away at the foundations of traditional Islamic education.
Years on, Jigawa State is telling a different story. The state is now building on that once-rejected federal initiative, working to find a local answer to the longstanding almajiri challenge that critics argued Jonathan's programme could never fully solve on its own.
What changed minds, and what does Jigawa's approach actually look like? That evolution, from fierce resistance to quiet adaptation, is the heart of a conversation northern Nigeria needs to keep having.
Originally published by Premium Times.