“When I was a talibé, considered one of my classmates in the same daara as me had a stutter and didn’t have good diction. One day, as he was struggling to recite, the schoolmaster hit him over the top with a wooden tablet. Now that I’m older and myself providing care to the kids, I realize he should have died of a mind haemorrhage after that beating,” mentioned a former talibé child. In January 2022, a 10-year-old talibé died of his injuries within the Lansar district of Touba after being crushed by his Quranic trainer, who was reprimanding him for not having discovered the day’s lesson.
“Health is a significant issue within the daaras, particularly skin ailments and oral hygiene. These kids usually have big abscesses of their mouths which aren’t treated as a result of there is not a actual monitoring of their welfare,” says the top of an NGO working to protect talibé children. Talibés youngsters are entrusted by their families – generally at a really early age – to Quranic academics to be taught the Quran. Common in city centres, they are often compelled to beg for their own repairs and that of their Quranic master. There …