Governors of 19 northern Nigerian states have shut down all traditional Quranic schools in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
The estimated nine million children attending the schools will be sent home, BBC reports.
Already, Kaduna and Kano states have sent such students back to their home states.
Katsina State has also received 419 almajiri pupils who were sent back by Kano State government as part of measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
The Secretary to Government of the State (SGS), Alhaji Mustapha Inuwa, received the children on behalf of the state government, a statement from the SSG’s office said on Wednesday.
Many Muslim parents in Nigeria send their children, often as young as six, to other towns and villages to learn the Koran.
They frequently live in crowded accommodation, begging on the streets when they are not in class.
The governors called for more virus testing centres to be set up in the north.
Millions of children across northern Nigeria attend Quranic schools
