Scholar Seeks Reintroduction Of Arabic, Islamic Studies In Public Schools

The proprietor of Bari College of Arabic and Islamic Studies, Dr Abdul-Baari Adetunji, has called on the government to recruit more teachers of Arabic and Islamic Studies in both public primary and secondary schools nationwide.

At the 57th anniversary, graduation, turbaning and award presentation organised by the college in Ibadan, the cleric said the school was established to train people in Arabic and Islamic Studies for moral upbringing and the benefit of humanity.

“We established this college in 1968 at Popoyemoja. We started from there, then moved to Kobomoje, and later to this place.

“Many prominent personalities have graduated from here. What we want to do is to build modern classrooms. We have been training individuals with extensive knowledge in both Islamic and Arabic Studies since then.

“I taught in primary, secondary and tertiary institutions. Sometimes at a time, I taught fifteen classes. As vice principal, I even taught Islamic Studies in a school. I want to urge our government to employ more Arabic and Islamic Studies teachers.

“They are on the ground to be employed. The current government in Oyo State has taken a step in the right direction;

it has recruited some Arabic and Islamic Studies teachers, but more should be employed.

“I believe they will still employ more; we have enough personnel. They are two different subjects, Arabic Studies and Islamic Studies”.

Olatunji, the Grand Mufti and Alfa Agba of Ibadanland, has called for the reintroduction of Islamic Religion Studies and Christian Religion Studies in both primary and secondary schools across the country.

He said, “Well, Islam has nothing to do with banditry, terrorism and other criminal activities. Those who are engaging in criminal activities of that nature are not followers of the principles of Islam, as explained by Prophet Muhammad (SAW).

“They are not even Muslims; the majority of them do not even practice Islam. We should try as much as possible to encourage public schools to have training sessions to teach religious studies.

“So, like we used to have in the past, we used to have Islamic Religion Studies and Christian Religion Studies in our schools, but most of the schools do not have them nowadays. They are almost extinct. They are no longer there now. Those are the areas where we have raised God-fearing leaders.

“So, we need to reintroduce Islamic Religion Studies and Christian Religion Studies from the primary school level to the secondary school level.

“Most schools don’t have IRK and CRK now. What we need is to reintroduce it in our primary and secondary schools”.

The director of the college, Dr Izzudeen Adetunji, in his remarks, called on governments at all levels to recruit more teachers to teach religious studies.

He said, “Government needs to pay more attention to the teaching of religious studies. The government needs to recruit more teachers to teach religious studies. We need more of them for our society to be sanitised”.