Teachers without Wages: The Challenges of Tsangaya School Teachers in Kano State Nigeria

Abstract

Tsangaya teachers are the people who devoted their time, energy and resources for the free and voluntary teaching of the Holy Qur’an to the offspring of their communities in northern Nigeria. Prior to the advent of the colonial administrators in Nigeria, the Qura’nic teachers were the most respected and literate people among the society, and earned reasonable financial remunerations from the traditional rulers and the general populace. But after the forceful conquering of the traditional kingdoms by the British colonialist, the Qura’nic knowledge and the teachers were relegated, and all financial benefits to the Qura’nic schools were cut off, which left them with no option, then to find their fate on the streets. The aim of this paper is to explore the difficult condition of the free services the Tsangaya teachers are rendering to the society. A qualitative method was used to conduct the research, where three schools were purposively selected, one from each of the three senatorial districts of Kano state. The population includes 11 participants which are; 3 Almajiri teachers, three Almajiri parents, three people living with Almajiris, and two government officials. Primary information was sourced through face-face interview strategy, and the result was analysed through the Nvivo10 software application. Findings discovered that the teachers do not get any salary from the government, and the parents usually send their children to the school, to live from elementary level until graduation without paying school fees, rather, the teachers survive through the daily house-house and street begging of money and food by their pupils.