The Secretary General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), Prof. Ishaq Oloyede says one of the major areas of deficits today among Muslims is poor attitude to education.
Oloyede stated this at the weekend during his remarks at the opening of the 111th Islamic Vacation Course (IVC) of the Muslim Students Society of Nigeria (MSSN) with theme, “How Could it be?”
The JAMB boss noted that the poor attitude of the faithful to education has resulted in low technical skills among the population; low income and diminishing access to formal sector employment in the public service and in corporations as well as other big business entities.
“It is quite unimaginable that almost 70 years after the establishment of the MSSN, we are still contending with fewer number of Muslim teachers in both Primary and secondary schools even in Muslim majority states of Oyo, Ogun, Ogun and Lagos. Is it a case of lack of manpower or structural denial of access to employment in teaching service or both? The situation in our tertiary institutions in the Southern parts of the country is even worse.
“There has not been any commensurate improvement in the number of Muslim academics in our Universities and other tertiary institutions despite the fact that year in year out, we produce a good number of best graduates every year!
“Experience has shown that one of the main objectives of the MSSN to raise critical manpower through quality education of members is not meaningfully on track. The eipidémic ríse in cases of examination malpractice has greatly diminished capacity to optimise opportunities offered by increased number of of students in the country.
“The Muslim Ummah is especially disadvantaged out by other self inflicted woes in addition to institutionalised and structural discrimination which they are routinely subjected to since the colonial era.
“The organization of schools for Islamic education has remained largely in private hands with its attendant incoherence and chaos. The curricula in the traditional islammiyyah schools are, in some parts, outdated and unsuitable. The products of these schools are generally not recognized by the system and are not employable. Most of them resort to some unwholesome and abhorrent social practices for lack of opportunities for decent and sustainable economic lifestyle. Rather than being ambassadors of Islam, they become a burden to the Deen. Traditional Muslim Scholars are presently embroiled in undue rivalry couched in ideological debates. They have distracted the Ummah from the pursuit of noble and lofty goals. We really have to address the embarrassing verbal exchanges between some Muslim scholars and preachers.
“With respect to the elite, most of them do not make any conscious plan to provide quality Islamic education for their children. As many practice inter-faith marriages, many of the children, without knowledge and consciousness of Allah, get derailed along the line and this has rendered desolate many elite Muslim homes. who may unfortunately end up as the last set of the Muslims in their lineages.(Subhannallah!).
“The elite send their children, right from early ages, to schools- home and abroad- where no mention of Islam, in positive terms, is practised. The children get indoctrinated with false assumptions and propaganda against Islam. They are made to look down on Islam and its practices with an inferiorising gaze. They do not consider the Quran as something worth their attention and consideration.
“Some elite Muslims would proudly declare that, as “enlightened minds”, they do not prescribe any religion for their children as they are allowed to practice any faith of their choice. How can such children make rational choice without benefit of sound Islamic education in the first instance? and in the face of overpowering anti-Islamic false propaganda being programmed into their minds in schools and through the media? The hypocrisy of such parents become manifest as they take conscious, practical and extraordinary steps to ensure that their children get sound secular education without giving such children any option or say on the matter.”
Prof. Oloyede however charged the Muslims to be proactive in their quest to overcoming the challenges being presently faced.
“We have no time to waste to achieve our mandate. May Allah make it easy for all of us to discharge our responsibilities as ordained by Allah to our families, the Ummah and humanity in general.”
Study @ Achievers University
