Impact Of Tsangaya Education System On The Development Of Arabic Language In Zamfara State: A Study Of Some Selected Tsangaya Schools In Gusau Town.

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume VI, Issue III, March 2022 | ISSN 2454–6186

Impact Of Tsangaya Education System On The Development Of Arabic Language In Zamfara State: A Study Of Some Selected Tsangaya Schools In Gusau Town.

Dr. Sirajo Muhammad Sokoto¹, Dr. Abubakar Adamu Masama¹, Dr. Bello Muhammad¹ & Dr. Murtala Marafa²

¹Department of Arabic Language, Federal University Gusau,

²Department of History, Sokoto state University, Sokoto.

An Institution Based Research (IBR), Sponsored by Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Federal University Gusau, Zamfara State – Nigeria.

Abstract
Tsangaya system of education is a programme designed to cater for the Almajirai/students who are out-of-school not only in Zamfara State, but also throughout northern Nigeria. The programme is aimed at integrating traditional Qur’anic Schools and western education under Universal Basic Education Commission. The establishment of Tsangaya or almajiri integrated education is one of the current issues that require special intervention from the governments at all levels to take measures to curtail the menace of street begging, drug abuse, child trafficking and youth in the name of pursuing Qur’anic Education. The Tsangaya or almajiri (Itinerant Qur’anic School Pupils) constitutes the largest group of out-of-school children in Nigeria numbering over nine (9) million children (Universal Basic Education Commission UBEC, 2010). This segment of Nigerian population poses tremendous challenges to the attainment of Education For All (EFA) and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The study examines five Tsangaya schools within Gusau town whose contributions to the Arabic language cannot be over emphasized. The study also adopts both qualitative and quantitative approach of data collection in order to be able gather more reliable information. It also uses both primary and secondary sources for information gathering.

Introduction

All over northern Nigeria, the system of learning was the traditional tsangaya or zaure method whereby students were taught to learn Qur’an or other Islamic aspects of knowledge. But, in 1903 after the fall of Sokoto Caliphate, the colonial masters introduced a new system of learning whereby students were taught in a class-room with desks and black-board. Prominent scholars at that time such as Alhaji Muhammad Marafa Dan Baba and others used the same method to establish Nizzamiyyah, Islamiyyah and Zawuyya Schools in the former Sokoto state. Arabic and Islamic studies were taught in those schools side by side with some western education subjects such as English Language, Mathematics and general Science, etc. Through this system of learning, Arabic language was disseminated to every nook and cranny of the state including Gusau Local Government Area. Furthermore, many students who graduated from those schools further their education to junior and secondary schools with many proceeding to tertiary institutions. Therefore, one could say without fear of contradiction that the contributions of tsangaya schools to the development of Arabic Language in Gusau town cannot be overemphasized

Overview of the Tsangaya Curriculum

Since colonial period down to amalgamation up to independence in 1960 and even beyond, northern Nigeria remains sceptical about western education, most especially because at the initial stage it was taught in the Christian Churches. Because of the relationship which then existed between Christianity and western education, many people in the region preferred Islamic to western education. This is also because; Islamic religion came to the region during the Trans-Saharan trade between North and West Africa and subsequently the contacts with the Wangarawa traders from Mali who were said to have been responsible for the spread of islam into the Nigerian area.
However, after independence, northern leaders such as Ahmad Bello Sardaunan Sokoto had made so much effort in integrating the Islamic and western education together in order to ensure that children from Northern Nigeria benefitted from western education side by side with Islamic education. Many influential personalities particularly in the former Sokoto were influenced by this idea of integration and they tried to adopt same at their own level. Among them were Ahmadu or Marafa Dan Baba who established the first Nizamiyah and Islamiyyah School at Yar’Akija in Sokoto in the early 1960s. It is pertinent to note that, today many prominent people in Sokoto and Zamfara States who excelled in the areas of Arabic and Islamic Studies were beneficiaries of this system. At the same time, the Jama’atu Nasarul (JNI) also contributed to the establishment of some Nizamiyya and Islamiyyah schools in then Sokoto State. Some of these Schools were established at Gusau, Gwandu, Argungu and Yauri respectively. It was from this system of Nizamiyya and Islamiyyah schools that the tsangaya schools emerged in Gusau towns.

Read More