Muslim group asks Bauchi government to regulate activities of Islamic schools

The Islamiyya Teachers Association, a Muslim group, has called on the Bauchi government to regulate the activities of Islamic schools in the state.

NAN reports that Kabiru Shuaibu, chairman of the association, told journalists in Bauchi that Islamiyya schools are “proliferating without operational decorum in a manner that has become worrisome”.

Shuaibu said it has become urgent for the state government to implement regulatory measures.

He said the regulation and monitoring of the schools would ensure standards and discipline.

“Government needs to evolve a mechanism to monitor the schools and check some of their unwholesome activities to establish standards,’’ he added.

Shuaibu noted that while Islamiyya schools played an important role in the moral upbringing of children, they still need to be guided.

He said his association is concerned that the state government neglected Islamiyya schools, making almost all of them to source for funds on their own.

“We appeal to the state government to involve Islamiyya school teachers in training and retraining programmes to update their knowledge in modern teaching methods,’’ Shuaibu said.

Shuaibu also appealed to the state government to pay some monthly stipends to Islamiyya school teachers to support and encourage them.

Also speaking, Muhammad Bakoji, the director of education at the Jama’atu Izalatul Bid’ah wa Iqamatis Sunna, lamented that some Islamiyya schools are graduating half-baked students in a disturbing trend.

He blamed parents and teachers for the continued deterioration of Islamiyya education in the state.

“There is the need for parents to ensure that their children are well educated as part of their obligations to them,’’ Bakoji said.

Bakoji also called on Islamic organisations to devise ways to tackle challenges in Islamiyya schools under their jurisdiction.

The Islamiyya school system is an informal and widespread method of education that that has been in practice from the 50s.

It teaches Islamic education to children and adults using formal and informal buildings.

In northern Nigeria, there have been calls to regulate and better integrate Islamic education within the broader educational framework.