LEARNING is a good medicine, but no medicine is powerful enough to preserve itself from taint and corruption independently of defects in the jar that it is kept in.” There is hardly a better summary of the state of education in Nigeria than the above statement of the foremost French writer and philosopher, Michel de Montaigne.

While in other countries, education is living up to the description of  former South African president, Nelson Mandela as “the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world,” the same cannot be said of the self acclaimed giant of Africa. Nigerian education is at crossroads.

That is why the Muslim community of the African Newspapers of Nigeria  (ANN) Plc, under the aegis of the Muslim Media Practitioners of Nigeria (MMPN), Tribune chapter, last Saturday, gathered stakeholders, to again, visit the touching issue of the collapse of Nigerian education, with a view to proffering an Islamic solution to the lingering problem.

The event, the third Annual Ramadan Lecture of the body, which held at the Islamic Centre, Ansar-ud-Deen Complex, Liberty Road, Ibadan, according to the President of the association, Mr Bamidele Popoola, was its contribution to the revival of the once vibrant sector. In line with this objective, the association aptly selected the topic “Islam and Revitalisation of Nigerian Educational System” for justice by a professional in the field of education, Dr. Abdul Wasiu Gabadeen of the Department of Educational Management, University of Abuja.

The don described the present situation thus: “Education in Nigeria is so bad that human beings have been relegated to the position of animals. There is a category of people, which education experts refer to as educated illiterates. They become illiterates because even though they acquired education, they are not liberated by it. And once education cannot liberate you, you become a stagnant, ignorant person.”

While saying that the country’s education needed urgent revitalisation, to, at least, meet up with the goals of the National Policy on Education, the university lecturer pointed that the whole problem could be traced to a disconnect between Nigerian educational system and the knowledge of the creator.

To begin with, Dr. Gabadeen noted that none of the goals of the National Policy on Education targeted at uniting Nigerians with God. He emphasised that the nation’s education flourished in the past because emphasis was then laid on religious and moral education, which helped to link the individual with the creator.

“In the olden days, our education was anchored on sound morality. The syllabus included studies in Bible knowlege and Islamic Religious Knowledge while moral instructions were also taught separately,” he said.

He frowned at a situation where foreigners have imposed their ways of life on Nigerians, saying that the ugly trend had reflected in our educational system. He stated that the whiteman  placed nature side by side with God and had removed all relationship which education had with the ultimate creator.

Because Nigerians have caved in to the dictates of foreigners in all ramifications, he said the nation’s educational system had been infiltrated with ungodly ideologies, which actually distanced man from God.

He regretted that the nation’s policy makers in education had replaced the once vibrant curriculum of education in Nigeria with foreign syllabus, thereby losing grip of the mechanism to move the sector forward, “and when a driver or pilot loses control, what happens?” he queried.

Unlike the European educational syllabus, which is predicated on secularism and materialism, Dr. Gabadeen noted that a shift towards the Islamic position on education remained the best way out of the woods.

This is because “Islam comes with a complete guidance. Therefore, in revitalising our education, Muslims need no other course; our religion makes provision for development of education, such that we do not need to borrow from any other ideology.

“Secondly, our religion has a syllabus for human beings to live a decent, fruitful life.

“Thirdly, Islam has come to address both the intellect and the body. It has provisions which concern the intellect and those which are meant for the body. It should, therefore, be clear that the success of man on earth and in the hereafter depends on the concern he has for the growth of the intellect.

That is more important. That is why Islamic injunctions are not mandated on people with brain problems or people with deficiency in understanding. Islam does not absolve the blind, the leper or other physically challenged of religious mandates, but mentally challenged persons are not mandated to perform such.

“The Holy Prophet (SAW) has said that Allah has commended angels to lift the pen for people on three occasions (that is, their actions are not recorded). One of such situations is when the intellect is challenged,” he stated.

Dr. Gabadeen, therefore, called for a return of and a restructuring of the nation’s education to place preference on religious teachings and moral instructions. He stressed that the task of charting a way forward was actually realisable,

saying that people normally view the process as too long and unrealistic to be undertaken. “The old system that we talk of as constructive was designed by some set of people, and they took some time to achieve that, so we have to begin somewhere,” he said.

The lecturer and consultant on educational management has a striking message to our education policy makers—”That connectivity must be there. Any educational system that does not connect man with the Creature and the hereafter is bound to collapse.”

The contribution of Professor Sheriffdeen Tella, Vice Chancellor, Crescent University, Abeokuta, Ogun State, was not at variance with the position of the guest lecturer. Tella, whose institution is faith-based, re-echoed the need to give utmost priority to moral instructions, saying that its absence had put the nation’s education in a comatose. He argued that students who had both academic and moral uprightness inculcated in them tended to make better leaders of the society and would make much impact in moving the human race forward.

The vice chancellor also called on the government to see reasons in encouraging the study of religious teachings as part of the curriculum in Nigerian schools.

He commended the efforts of Nigerians that had deemed it fit to set up educational institutions that place priority on the teachings of moral education, saying that initiatives like that would go a long way in correcting the vices that had pervaded our schools.

The chairman on the occasion and the Chairman, Ayedaade Local Government, Gbongan, Osun State, Honourable Rauf Ajani, however, posited that the task of rebuilding Nigerian education rested with all Nigerians. According to him, parents, guardians,

teachers and the public at large, have to be ready to complement the efforts of the government in enforcing moral teachings in schools, when the policy makers eventually decided to brace up to the gigantic challenge.

He decried a situation whereby the public had been found to scuttle the ambition of the government on the development of education, when the government had actually meant well for such people. Honourable Ajani also called on parents for find time to inculcate moral teachings  in their wards, as a foundation for what teachers would build on.

The chief host and the Executive Director (Finance), ANN Plc, Dr. Jimoh Laoye, stated that the Ramadan period provided a golden platform for Muslims to engage in virtous acts. Represented by an Assistant Editor in the organisation, Mr. Saliu Gbadamosi,

Dr Laoye stressed that the publishers of Tribune titles placed emphasis on the growth and development of the Nigerian nation and would always identify with structures that would make such goals a reality. He lauded the strides of the organisation’s Muslim community for the annual lecture, which, he said, had always aimed at moving the nation forward.

The chairman, Planning Committee of the event, Mr Sulaimon Adesina, pledged the commitment of the body to addressing critical issues that touch the life of the average citizens of the country.

The event attracted other dignitaries such as the Chairman, Oluyole Local Government, Idi Ayunre, Ibadan, Oyo State,Honourable Abideen Olasunkanmi Salami; Oyo State chairman of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners, Mr Duro Ogunsesan; Dr Aderinoye of the Universal Basic Educatuion Commission (UBEC), Abuja, among others.