Coronavirus in Nigeria: The child beggars at the heart of the outbreak

BBC News

This article from BBC News describes the movement of children and young people in Nigeria from Koranic schools back to their homes during the COVID-19 crisis, "one of the biggest ever state organised mass movements of minors in Africa's most-populous state." 

"Tens of thousands of Koranic school children were recently crammed into open vans and sent back home from cities and towns across northern Nigeria in a controversial move by state governments to prevent the spread of coronavirus within their territories," says the article. Hundreds of the children already had the coronavirus, unbeknownst to authorities, and ended up spreading the virus.

The incident has prompted some governors to call for shutting down the Koranic schools altogether. The students at the schools "are mostly children from poor homes who go to live for five to 10 years in a boarding-house style setting," according to the article. The students, who are expected to pay their teachers each week, often resort to begging on the streets, says the article. "They often live in squalid conditions with poor hygiene, and can go without a bath for weeks, despite the fact that Islam puts huge emphasis on cleanliness."