'Much as that may be a step in the right direction, there is need for more action. You would be shocked if you know how many schools don't have Islamic Studies teachers in Lagos State, for example,' Muslim Teachers Association of Nigeria (MUTAN) told OnIslam.net in an exclusive reaction to Buhari asking federal schools to include two books by a renown late jurist Bashir Sambo in secondary school curriculum.
'At times you find only one teacher taking the subject in a complex of four schools.
'Islamic Religious Studies (IRS) teachers aren't being recruited. The pool of teachers employed by former Governor Lateef Jakande (1983) are retiring without any replacement. So there's need for recruitment of teachers of IRS by states,' Muslim Teachers Association added.
At an event recently held in northwestern Kano state, President Buhari, a Sunni Muslim, urged public schools to consider including the Islamic studies for secondary schools by the late Justice Sambo in their curriculum.
He said such books had become essential in the face of declining moral and religious values in the country.
While many Muslims lauded the president's gesture, they argued that a conscious effort must be taken to ensure students are exposed to proper religious teachings in schools by getting more subject teachers for the Islamic religious studies.
Disu Kamor, executive chairman at the Muslim Public Affairs Centre (MPAC) Nigeria, said the president's step represents a powerful step in the right direction for teaching of religious values in public schools but he said this falls short of what is required to bridge the gap already created over the years.
'The clear and powerful directive of President Muhammadu Buhari … may be a necessary step to address the ugly trend and the pervasive moral/religious decadence but truth be told,' Kamor told OnIslam.net.
'Only the enactment and rigorous enforcement of strong public anti-discriminatory policies, that will equitably distribute all learning opportunities in public schools to all students are capable of deterring the emboldened institutional discriminatory forces that continue to oppress the collective aspirations of Muslim parents and deprive our children of education with distinctive Islamic ethos,' he added.
'Also, immense investments must be made to improve the educational infrastructures, Islamic religion teachers' career prospect and enrich the culture and curricula that produce the best teachers.
He also lamented what he called deliberate effort to frustrate the teaching of Islamic values in public schools,' Kamor said.
'Obviously the steady erosion of moral and religious values amongst our teenagers and young adults in the country is frightening and partly caused by the reckless neglect of important duty to embellish these students with distinctive qualities found in religious education.'
Other Challenges
President of the Muslim Students Society of Nigeria Kamil Kalejaiye says the president recommending textbooks on Islamic teachings does not address the challenges facing Muslim parents and their children in public schools.
'The recommendation of Islamic text in federal government schools does not address the problem of deliberate denial of Muslim students the study of Islamic religious studies in secondary schools throughout the federation,' Kalejaiye told OnIslam.net.
'Even if all the state of the federation adopt the recommended text who and where are the teachers that will teach the students? This denial of Muslim students their right to study Islamic knowledge is intentional by the various government and principals, how do you explain a scenario whereby a teacher posted to a school to teach Islamic studies is being forced by the Principal of the school to abandon the teaching of Islamic studies and coerced to teach other subjects.
'The normal excuse by the principal is that they do not need Islamic studies teacher and there are other subjects that the school lack teachers and there is no Islamic study teacher in the school. Some of the Islamic studies teacher that refuse are victimized,' Kalejaiye added.
The students' chief said the solution lies in people in charge of education acknowledging and acting out the fact that Nigeria is a 'multi-religious country' where everyone is entitled to being treated fairly.
'The solution is for the government to employ more teachers to teach Islamic studies and the policy maker should have religious tolerance; Nigeria is multi religious country,' he said.
'Teachers do retire every year but government does not employ new teachers to replace them, this is affecting our education generally.
'This accounts for the poor performance of the students in the West African Certificate Examination (WAEC) examination where only about 30% of the student that wrote the exam passed Mathematics and English language at credit level.'
Nigeria, one of the world's most religiously committed nations, is divided between a Muslim north and a Christian south.
Muslims and Christians, who constitute 55 and 40 percent of Nigeria's 140 million population respectively, have lived in peace for the most part.
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