By Momodou Darboe
The seeming intractable problem of child begging in the country appears to be rearing its ugly head in Jarra Soma as children as young as six could be seen begging in the town’s busy markets and car parks.
Sending children down the streets is being viewed by some Quranic teachers as a way of instilling in them humility and reducing the burden of feeding but child rights activists argue child begging could expose children to the many dangers of the streets and were in vociferous condemnation of the practice until it was criminalized few years ago.
But it would appear this has not served as enough deterrent to some Quranic teachers as The Standard found out in Jarra Soma over the weekend.
Quranic students between the ages of six and ten, begging in Jarra Soma’s busiest places are now common sights.
Some of the students, who spoke to this medium, confided that they travel on daily basis to Soma from villages such as Medina Angalleh, Medina Farance, Sare Galo France and Bureng to beg.
