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Revamping
Islamic Schools Takes Central Stage In Nigeria
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There
are some 16 million Nigerian children studying at the Islamic and
Qur’anic schools
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By
Al-Khidr Abdul Baqi,, IOL Correspondent
ABUJA,
June 30 (IslamOnline.net) – Calls for reforming and developing the
Islamic and Qur’anic schools in Nigeria are currently taking center
stage in the western African country.
"The
Qur’anic schools should rethink their curricula to keep pace with
the education system of the country and face up to the contemporary
challenges facing Muslims," Professor Abu Baker Abdul Rashid, the
Dean of the Faculty of Islamic Studies and Arts in Bayero University,
told IslamOnline.net.
He
said that though such schools master Qur’anic and religious
subjects, they are lagging behind in science and foreign languages,
which should be given due attention.
"The
negligence of such subjects poses a serious threat to the future
Muslim generations, who would be inefficient and unqualified to face a
cut-throat competition in the labor market," Rashid warned.
Under
the Nigerian education system, he noted, it is incumbent upon students
to finish their primary grade in state-run schools before enrolling in
the junior high school.
"So,
the graduates of the Qur’anic schools have to go back to the primary
grade to pass them to the next stage, which is simply a waste of
time," explained the expert.
The
call to develop the religious schools was made earlier in June by the
National Authority for the Primary Education.
It
asked theses schools to revamp its education system to meet the needs
of the Nigerian society, expressing readiness to discuss relevant
plans with educational experts.
‘Poor
System’
Sheikh
Salahudin Olayiwola, the head of the league of Arabic and Islamic
schools' founders in Nigeria, recognized "necessity" of
revamping curricula in religious schools.
He
also admitted the poor infrastructure of the education system in the
religious schools.
"We
have now two kinds of Muslim graduates. The first badly lacks basic
understanding of their religion and is ignorant about the language of
Qur’an. The other, on the contrary, has thorough knowledge about
Islamic subjects and master the Noble Qur’an, but lack the faintest
idea about modern curricula."
Olayiwola,
also the founder and director of Islamic Institute of Nigeria, said a
broad section of religious school graduates belong to the second type.
"This
system denies the younger Muslim generations access to decision-making
and leading jobs in our country," he told IOL over the phone.
Though
Olayiwola understands concerns of such schools that the reform drive
might seek to marginalize the religious education in Nigeria, he said
teachers should first instill Qur’an and Islam into the younger
generations before opening up to other curricula, like science and
math.
"Unfortunately,
Muslims in Nigeria are still cautious about the pros of modern
sciences," said Ismail Ishaq, the supervisor of the educational
projects and religious schools of the Islamic Call Society in Kano.
He
noted that many citizens still see such subjects in resentful light
and totally reject them.
Reservations
However,
others voiced deep concerns and expressed reservations at the teaching
of modern subjects in religious schools.
Sheikh
Zakaria Abdul Ghani, the director of Abdullah Bin Abbas Qur’anic
school, believes that there is more to this than meets the eye.
He
urged the officials in the religious schools to remain vigilant and
counter such calls.
"The
education system of the Qur’anic schools should remain unchanged.
The younger generations should learn the Noble Qur’an by heart
before joining the junior high schools," Ghani said.
The
school director has no objections to modern subjects or foreign
languages, but maintained that they should come later.
Some
analysts said the reform drive is designed to toe the US line, which
targets the education system in the entire Arab and Muslim worlds.
According
to an official survey, there are 73,486 Qur’anic and Islamic schools
in Nigeria, chiefly in the North, with some 16 million students.
Muslims
make up 55 percent of Nigeria’s 133 million people, according to
official statistics.
Forty-four
percent of the Nigerians believe in Christianity.
A
January poll,
conducted by the independent opinion research company ICM for the BBC
What The World Thinks Of God program, featured Nigeria as the most
religious nation and Britain as the most secular.
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