Scholar harps on quality education as antidote to social discontents . Alaafin extols virtue of Islamic School's Proprietor
An Islamic Scholar, Imam Daud Tiijani Oladele Igi Ogun has stressed the need for religious education in Nigeria to recognize the rich and diverse religious heritage of the country and should adopt a co-operative model that accepts the rich heritage and the possibility of creative interaction between schools and faith, protecting the youth from religious discrimination or coercion.
Imam Igi Ogun stated this yesterday (Saturday) at the 11th WALIMATUL QUR'AN/ 23rd Anniversary and Fund Raising of Imam Daud Igi Ogun Institute of Arabic and Islamic Studies in Oyo town.
He noted that learning about religion in these schools should be different from the religious instruction and religious nurture provided by the home, family, and religious community. Religious institutions should explore ways of avoiding or curbing religious fanaticism or extremism.
According to him, they should aim at creating an integrated and informed community that affirms unity in diversity.
".Religious education can be extended to the teeming population or adherents of different religions through the adoption of Open and Distance Learning (ODL) option of literacy and empowerment, which may be more flexible and less expensive; the present traditional face to face method of education delivery is very expensive, highly restrictive and discriminatory.
Imam Igi Ogun , who is also the School's Proprietor posited that for religious education to thrive as an agent of national development and integration in our contemporary Nigeria, justice is done in the return of mission schools to their original owners, the law on take-over of such schools should be repealed or amended in line with the new policy of federal government, in order to forestall a future subversion of current MoUs with the government on the return of mission schools by an ambitious regime.
"In order to protect the equal rights of all learners gaining access to education, and to forestall the problem of low enrolments, religious bodies and individuals should appreciate the fact that government alone cannot fund and coordinate education. They should follow the footsteps of early mission schools and not turn education into a commercial venture.
" Also, the government should not hands-off funding of education, as the action of some state governments suggests today. They should continue to partner with religious bodies and individuals."
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