Journal of Justice and Peace THE STREET CHILDREN WORLD (1)

We come across them at the traffic lights, with their tin box, or pressed up against one another, lying under the arches of the big markets of our towns, dirty, covered with scabs, dressed in rags: they are the children of the streets.

The phenomenon seems to have multiplied over the last twenty years, taking on alarming proportions. Where do these children come from? Where are their parents? How do they get there? What is behind this terrible reality of the modern African town? How does this world of the street children function and what can we do as missionaries?

After a first journal in April 2006 on the problems of immigration, this second Justice and Peace Journal opens the file on street children. Faced with this immense problem, as much because of its size as its gravity, we missionaries feel more powerless because we know almost nothing of this world of the street, of this cruel reality which is there, under our very noses.

From meetings with those involved and the basic documents (of UNICEF and the United Nations), the Justice and Peace Workshop seeks to give here some elements to introduce us to this world of street children. This Journal No 2 seeks to understand better these kids who have such a tough childhood, and why. It will be followed by a Jounal No 3 which will try to see how to act: small actions are organised here and there and we hope they will bear fruit. We will let those who do something for these children speak.

Perhaps we will one day be actors in a world that is better for these street children. Or at least our way of looking at them may change.

Three types of street children can be distinguished:
1. The pupils of Koranic Schools: they study and beg at very specific times.
2. The "tin can beggars": they beg for their parents who are poor; they beg at all daytime hours but they go home at night.
3. Street children: they have no parents and no adult to refer to; they live in gangs with one or more leaders. Some sleep on pavements.

Those of the last category are of course the most miserable. They may be, for example, children placed with a marabout who have run away because of bad treatment: they no longer dare to return to their parents. They may be children of a widow who has remarried whose new spouse so mistreats the children that they have fled.

A look at the time at which they beg can help distinguish the three types of children. Here is the normal timetable of a Koranic school:

In theory, there is no work on Thursdays and Fridays. The children of Koranic schools beg at fixed hours: a child who begs at night, for example is a member of the third type.

A discussion about the Koranic schools in Mali with Mr Hamadou Tolo, coordinater of the N.G.O. Mali-Enjeu.

What is the differnce between a Koranic school and a medersa?
A medersa is more structured, a bit like a state school with a program of secular subjects and Koranic teaching; for the most part, the pupils are lodged with their parents. These schools are affiliated with the Ministry of Basic Education. A Koranic school only teaches the Koran; the child is entirely dependent on the master (the marabout). If the child is entrusted to the master, he has the power of life or death over him.

In Bamako, we did a study of the Koranic schools in 1998 and we counted 134 Koranic schools in 6 communes. The introduction of Koranic schools dates back to the penetration of Islam and they greatly increased in number as the population increased, coming to Bamako from everywhere in Mali. Conversion to Islam requires the learning of a certain number of verses, suras, and religious acts. The opening of a Koranic school is an initiative of the master himself. In Bamako, 60% of the masters are Fulani, Soninke or Songhoy. They are also the heads of large families. The Koranic pupils are generally accommodated in the families. Teaching the Koran was an act of piety which did not give rise to systematic payment. Today in Bamako, 63% of masters are renumerated for the education of their pupils, either by normal donations or out of solidarity.

Lets talk about the pupils. We see often begging in the streets of our towns, above all the talibes (or gariboouts). What do you think?

The living conditions of these children is difficult. According to the study, 26% of pupils feed themselves daily through begging and 28% occasionally. Begging is linked to tradition and is permitted in the Koran. The children beg to satisfy their hunger; and they need money to pay for their contributions, their clothes, shoes, teaching materials and medicines. In general they beg after class, between 10 and 12 am, in the afternoon at 5-6pm, and at night between 9-10 o'clock.

Beyond the age of 14, there are no more beggars, because they would be ashamed. The older ones live off what belongs to the younger ones. Girls never beg; they are considered members of the family and eat with the family. (to be continued in the next edition)

In 2005, the Teaching Acadamy of Mopti (Ministry of National Education) commissioned Mr Moussa Bachili Ba and Mr Monhamed El Béchir Talla to conduct a community study of the Koranic schools. The document, published with the help of UNICEF, presents a very interesting analysis: two specialists in the science of education looking at the Koranic school education system in order to understand their functioning and to evaluate their effectiveness. We give here a resumé of the principal ideas.

"These children
who have lost their childhood innocence…"

- In 1980, the pupils of madrasas and Koranic schools made up 36.2% of pupils in primary education in Mali (Source: The National Education Ministry).

- In the 5th Region, their number is essentially masculine: 93% of the pupils of Koranic schools are male, against 7% girls.

- The number of Koranic schools in Mopti increased from 11 in 1983 to 112 in 2001, that is an increase of 90% in twenty years.

- The Koranic school is seen as a private, informal and community educational system. The Koranic master is the promoter, the parents of the pupils are the clients. The essential part is to learn the Koran.

- The Koranic schools are organized on a vertical model: The coranic master "Mobbo" dominates the "Talibaabés", who venerate him; their parents place all their trust in him.

- The pupils are classed in four categories, from the smallest to the largest: those who know nothing (the "Foussounaroou"); those who have some knowledge (the "Fouskalrou"); those who are starting to recite the Coran (the "Falkarou"); and finally those who assist the master (the"Santarou"): they have already memorised the Koran. The two first groups depend exclusively on the master. The teaching methods of Koranic schools are based on the memorisation of the Koran. The cycle of Koranic education lasts 11 years on average.

- Each pupil in a Koranic school is in principle the object of a personalised pedagogy. The Koranic school recognises two sorts of studies: those who know how to recite the Koran are the "Dursodo"; the "Hafiz" are those who memorise the whole Koran. Corporal punishment is admissible as part of the pedagogy and a way to learn about authority: in fact whippings and other bad treatment are frequent.

- As to the effectiveness of Koranic schools, of one hundred pupils who pass through, one will become a "grand master" on leaving the school, ten will be "good masters" and about twenty, masters with very modest knowledge. The masters foresee that the pupils will know sufficient verses to enable them to pray. In general, Arabic is neither read nor written.

- The teaching equipment of the Koranic school has four elements: a copy of the Koran, the slate of the pupil, ink, the pen and religious books. This material is rigorously supervised.

-The Talibés are always integrated into a little group lead by a gregariously spirted older pupil. They are to be found outside the mosques on Fridays, outside the station, in front of restaurants, in the markets. The Talibé should be submissive, brave, punctual, very respectful towards his master whom he must venerate. Living conditions are very hard: the day lasts 16 hours on average, without any time for leisure or playing; it is calculated that the children spend 56% of the time when they are not studying in activities that are physically hard. The child in a Koranic school quickly hardens and becomes inventive.

- The Koranic master possesses two types of knowledge in general: "bayanu" (meaning "public", in Arabic) knowledge, which allows him to teach the Koran and related disciplines: and "siri" knowledge which enables him to conduct esoteric and magic practices or "maraboutage" iin West Africa (amulettes and divinations etc). Schools for the formation of maraboouts do not exist: all come from the Koranic schools. In Mali, they do not, in general, understand Arabic.

- The dramatic economic conditions, the competition of the formal schools and the flowering of little-structured Koranic schools has lead to the crisis in Koranic schools in Mali, according to the marabouts themselves.

- The parents of the pupils of Koranic schools are themselves of three types: the parents in town, whose children come and go between the school and home; very poor parents from town or countryside, poorly educated who believe the recuiting marabout's promises of a paradise for their children; the parents from abroad: their children have crossed frontiers to follow their marabout: they have often lost all trace of him.

A discussion with Mr B. Tall, teacher of Arabic at the Bandiagara Lycée (secondary school), member of staff at the Bandiagara Academy and teacher of the Islamic religion at the private College of the Parish of Bandiagara.

We often see children begging in town. In your report on the Koranic schools, you have written that "that shames Islam": how do you explain the phenomenon?

The children who beg are really very numerous, we are conscious of that and we are reflecting on the problem. The Koranic schools are not subsidized by the state, unlike the madrasas and state or private schools.

Many come from the Koranic schools: the masters cannot feed them, so they send them off to beg. They have been given by the parents to the master, sometimes out of religious conviction, sometimes due to poverty or because the child is difficult and it is a way to get rid of him. There are also children who make themselves into beggars, who have run away from their families. Not all Koranic schools, however, encourage begging.

The ideal would be to transform these Koranic schools into madrasas which would have a normal programme with geography, maths etc.,as well as a religious formation in the Koran and Arabic. Such schools are supervised by the state. The children would go home to their families like other children. This is what has been done in Mauritania, where there are no longer beggars from Koranic schools.
Another partial solution would be that religious instruction, according to the beliefs of the pupils; Muslims, Catholics etc., would be obligatory in all schools; the parents would more easily send their children to that sort of school and not the Koranic school. Thus the fact that you allow the teaching of the Koran to the Muslim pupils of your private Catholic school encourages the parents to send their children to the school.
At Djenné, the Koran is taught for an hour every day in the secondary state school.

The Koran forbids begging. It came about through certain masters who wanted to teach but did not have the means. It started at Hamdallaye, near Mopti with Sékou Hamadou. Begging arrived before the coming of the Toucolours.

According to the Koranic master, the region and the age of the religious pupil, each child in a Koranic school must bring in a haul of between 200CFA (in Mopti) and 750CFA (Bamako), every day, under threat of corporal punishment. A Koranic school of 100 pupils in Bamako would thus produce 2,250,000CFA per month for its promoter. This profitability explains the proliferation of Koranic schools.

Source: Les mendiants dans la cite des trios Caïmans, une société secrète ",
NYELENI Magazine, No 66, Sept-Oct 2004.