Hot take: Almajiranci will persist for as long as the incentives pulling rural children toward the cities far outweigh the opportunities available in their villages.
For many rural families, sending a child into the Almajiri system functions almost like βjapaβ does for sections of the urban lower and middle class, a survival strategy driven by the search for economic mobility.
A significant number of these children eventually get absorbed into the informal urban economy, learning trades, building networks, and in some cases becoming materially more successful than their counterparts who remain in rural communities. That outcome, however imperfect or exploitative the system may be, reinforces its attractiveness and sustains the cycle.
Until rural economies become genuinely viable through security, education, irrigation, infrastructure, and dignified local livelihoods, moral condemnation alone will not end Almajiranci.
7 years of research on Almajiri. Listen very well and you will understand 90% of parents just send the children away because of responsibility.