“Nigeria cannot make headway until we adopt integrity, discipline. These problems will kill us if we don’t kill them. We are going towards destruction. We don’t have to wake up and be like Syria.”
Source/Credit: The Nation | Nigeria
By Kofoworola Belo-Osagieon | October 01, 2015
Morally deficient education costing Nigeria fortune
Neglect of morals in education is costing Nigeria more than people reckon with, says Dr Mashuud Fashola, Executive Secretary, Fadhil-i-Omar Ahmadiyya Muslim Educational Foundation (FAMEF).
He linked the level of corruption in the system to the failings of the education sector to inculcate moral education in children right from the foundation at a briefing to announce the 21st anniversary of Mahmud Ahmadiyya College, Ijede, a suburb of Ikorodu, Lagos, last Tuesday.
Fashola, an economist, who taught at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), said the moral gap informed the founding of the college 21 years ago to provide a smooth secondary education transition for pupils of Fadhil-i-Omar Nursery and Primary School, Somolu, Lagos.
“We started Fadhil-i-Omar Nursery and Primary in Somolu and when the first set of pupils was completing their education, public schools were in shambles. Morally, physically and academically they were nowhere. Coach Yusuf (head teacher) was worried. Will the children be sent to useless secondary schools after all they had been taught? That was why we started the college.
“We want to produce moral, academic and social indoctrination of children. It is easy to indoctrinate children. But the best way to indoctrinate them is positively. The greatest asset you can give your child is morality,” he said.
Fashola warned that failure to address the problem of immorality in the society through education could lead Nigeria to deteriorate to the level of Syria if care is not taken.
“Nigeria cannot make headway until we adopt integrity, discipline. These problems will kill us if we don’t kill them. We are going towards destruction. We don’t have to wake up and be like Syria,” he said.
Fashola noted that quality education must be accessible to the poor in the society. He said schools should exist to serve humanity.
“The purpose of this school is to develop humanity – those who serve God and his creatures. Many Christians and Muslims are focused on rituals but forget the substance. You cannot get the blessing of God unless you serve humanity,” he said.
Fashola acknowledged the roles played by various people who have contributed to the success of the college from inception.
Another director of the School Management Board, Mr Lakunle Bello, said products of the college have excelled in their various endeavours, a testament to the school’s quality.
In his address, the Principal of the college, Alhaji Ibrahim Ogunmola, said at about N120,000, the school’s fees was affordable for many parents. He said indigent pupils get support from the foundation. He also noted that defaulters are not sent away but their parents given opportunity to pay up.
Ogunmola, the foundation principal, said the school also does not make profit from the foundation but ploughs back all into its development.
“From the beginning the mandate the owners gave was to meet all our needs and plough back whatever remains to the development of the school. All the structures we’ve been able to put are from our funds and we have never taken loan,” he said.
Activities lined up for the forthcoming anniversary include a symposium holding today, which would feature two lectures titled: “Child Upbringing: Islamic Perspective” by Missionary Muhammad Qasim Oyekola; and “Beyond Mining” by Missionary Rabiu Uthman; a thanksgiving service and free medical service is scheduled for tomorrow; while luncheon and awards ceremony would hold on Saturday at the Lagos Chambers of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) Hall, Ikeja.
The programme would end with a Hafiz (Quran memorisation) class graduation on Sunday.
Read original post here: Nigeria Morally deficient education costing nation fortune
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