OSOGBO — THE threat of religious disorder that would have resulted from Christian leaders in Osun State asking Christian students to appear in church service robes in their classrooms, yesterday, was minimal as a result of frantic last minute efforts by security agencies to douse the tension that it would have generated. Some students of Baptist High School, Adeeke, Iwo, Osun State, attending classes in different church robes, yesterday. Photos: Gbenga Olarinoye. Some students of Baptist High School, Adeeke, Iwo, Osun State, attending classes in different church robes, yesterday. Photos: Gbenga Olarinoye. However, the directive was not totally ignored as some students of Baptist High School,Adeeke, Iwo appeared in their schools in choir robes and church garments. The appearance of students of the school in their different church vestments caused confusion in the school as other students who were in their school uniform hailed them. One of the leaders of Osun Christian Association of Nigeria OSCAN, who spoke with Vanguard said the directives witnessed partial compliance because of the intervention of the security agencies in the state who held separate meetings with leaders of the two religious groups on the issue. His words, “ You know the position of Christians in the state. We are law abiding group of people who will always obey and abide by the laws of the land even under the heat of provocation. We decided on the second thought not to overheat the system by relaxing our directive that our Christian students who are in the public schools in the state should also attend classes in Christian robes and garments if their female Muslims colleagues should come to schools wearing hijab. But we allow peace to reign in the state by not enforcing the directive. You know that we will not leave out the option of appeal as we have already made it clear from the on set after the judgement of the state high court that Christians will appeal the judgement at the appeal court. ‘’Since Muslims claimed that by wearing hijab, they are protecting their faith, so, Christians also are bound to protect and propagate their faith,” the source added. The source further stated that Christian leaders in the state are meeting in Osogbo this morning to review the whole development and chart a new course. At the heat of the judgement of an Osun State High Court allowing Muslim female students to wear hijab to schools, the state branch of Christian Association of Nigeria , threatened that any attempt to enforce the law in the state would lead to chaos and breakdown of law and order. Some students of Baptist High School, Adeeke, Iwo, Osun State, attending classes in different church robes, yesterday. While the students, suspected to be Christians yesterday wore white garments sown into choir gowns stormed their classes without being prevented by their teachers, some female Muslim students who appeared in veil (hijab) equally gained access to the school without restriction. A visit to the school by Vanguard saw a male student wearing a white robe before other students arrived the school in their white and purple choir robes. As they were gaining entry to the school premises unhindered by the security man manning the gate, some other students dressed in white robes also appeared in the school. Many female Muslim students of the school wore hijab on their uniforms and some members of the Christian Association of Nigeria were in the school to monitor the reaction of the teachers to the strange mode of dressing of their children. It was gathered that no student was chased out of the classes for not appearing in their school uniforms as the teachers were seen teaching every student despite their religious attires. The students, on their part were sighted sitting together peacefully while teaching was ongoing. However, when Vanguard visited Salvation Army Middle School, Alekunwodo around 7:40am, Muslim female students who wore hijab were allowed assess to the school just as some members of Christian Association of Nigeria in the state were at the school gate to ensure that no Christian student was chased out of school if seen wearing choir garment. Speaking, the Principal of Baptist High School, Iwo, Mr. Omotayo Arowolo said there was no crisis in the school despite the development. Religious crises He said the teachers were doing their work and the school was peaceful. Catholic bloc of CAN: Also speaking, the head of Catholic bloc of CAN in Iwo, Catechist Paul Olagoke said they were in the school to ensure that no student was chased way. Olagoke said: “we are here to defend the rights of our children. Since female Muslim students are free to wear hijab, our children are free to wear anything they want to. What could have led to religious crises was last week averted when the Principal of Christ African Middle School, Osogbo, Mrs. Micha was said to have sent some female Muslim students who used hijab out of the school. Muslim teacher pleads: It was learned that a Muslim female teacher pleaded with her to allow the students to stay with their hijab but the principal allegedly refused to listen. When some members of Muslim Students Society of Nigeria heard about the development, they mobilised themselves with intent to storm the school but the timely intervention of Osun State Muslim Community averted the crisis. A judge of Osun State High Court, Justice Jide Falola had recently delivered a judgement in a case instituted by Osun State Muslim Community against the State Government on the right of female Muslim students in public schools in the state to use hijab on their school uniforms. But the Osun State Christian Association of Nigeria faulted the judgment and vowed to appeal the matter in the higher court. CAN also threatened that it would direct Christian students across the state to be wearing church garments to schools to propagate their faith if Osun State government implements the judgment of Justice Falola. When Vanguard visited the school last week, Mrs Micha said she only ordered the female Muslim students to remove their Hijab and denied sending them away from the school as speculated. The principal insisted that Hijab cannot be allowed in a Christian school. The chairman of the State Universal Basic Education Board, SUBEB, Prince Felix Awofisayo in his reaction on the development said that the state government would abide by the judgement of the court. Public schools He noted that all the public schools belonged to the state government and that the judgement was bidden on all of them. Nigerians should hold Aregbesola responsible -PDP: Meantime, the Osun state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, said Nigerians should hold Governor Rauf Aregbesola responsible, if more damage is done to the state’s education system through the brewing crises over wearing of hijab in public schools by female students. The party in a statement issued in Osogbo by its spokesperson, Prince Diran Odeyemi, said Muslims and Christians in Osun state have coexisted long before now without crises and blamed the rising tension on Governor Aregbesola, whom it accused of grand plan to destabilise the state for some political reasons. Any student who defaults risks expulsion — Aregbesola IN his reaction, the Osun State governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, warned that any student found disobeying school rules and regulations risk expulsion. Governor Aregbesola while commissioning the ultra-modern St Michael’s RCM Government Middle School, Ibokun, said all aggrieved parties in the recent court judgement over Hijab should channel their grievances according to the rule of law and not result to self help. He distanced his administration from the court judgement that allowed female Muslim students to wear Hijab to school, saying the Judiciary is an independent arm of government, the decisions of which are not subject to any influence by other arms of government. He said, “It is funny for some people to insinuate that government has a hand in the judgement. The government is a democracy, not a theocracy. Any student found disobeying school rule and regulation risk expulsion from our schools.” The Governor said it is not the business of any government, through the schools, to lead a child in a particular religious direction. That will be for parents and religious institutions, in private capacity, until the child is grown enough to make a decision on religion. He said, “The government therefore cannot support or be seen to be supporting a particular religion. The government is a democracy, not a theocracy. I believe also that parents and society should complement the government in shaping the minds of the pupils to be receptive to knowledge and godly character formation; to be sensitive to the need of others, the plurality of our society and the imperative of mutual toleration. They should also be brought up to be team players, even when in a competitive environment.” It amounts to subversion of the educational needs of a child for them to be drawn into and used for political purposes.” Speaking on the mega school which he opened in Ibokun, Aregbesola said his administration is not just building schools across the state because it wants to show off or has too much money and looking for grandiose projects to spend it on. He assured at the opening of the N164million project that none of the ongoing projects in the state will be abandoned. He chided the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) in the state for ascribing the project of school buildings to funds from Federal Government describing it as misleading and mischievous. The Governor noted that the opposition in their character went about slandering his administration when it dawned on them that they have failed the people of Osun when they were in Government. He added that, assuming without conceding that the money is from federal Government, questions should be asked on what did the PDP do with such fund when they were in power. ?Aregbesola stressed that the commitment of his government on education stems from the belief that the purpose of education is for the development of the new man intellectually, socially and morally. He said that the new man government is building in students across the state is placed in the centre of society, who views his own development as part of and for the development of society. The Governor held that the middle school being commissioned, like the others in the state, has the maximum capacity for 1000 pupils, 28 classrooms, an ICT room equipped with 30 computers, 24 toilets for pupils and teachers, three head teachers/principals’ office, one staff room. He listed others as one facility manager’s office, a multi-purpose hall, food court, library, sick bay, security/reception gatehouse and recreation zone. According to him, “We are building a total of 170 state of the art schools with 100 of them at Elementary, 50 Middle Schools and 20 High Schools. Out of these, 14 Elementary Schools, 15 Middle Schools and 11 High Schools, including the one we are commissioning today, have been completed, to the glory of God. “Some are already commissioned while others are receiving finishing touches and waiting to be commissioned too. We are going to complete them before the expiration of our tenure. None of our projects will be abandoned. “The school being commissioned today cost the government a sum of N164 million. This includes the cost of the structure, furnishing and landscape development. In spite of the lean resources of the state, expending this sum on a school is a mark of our commitment to basic education”. Aregbesola added that government has attached performance index to continuity and promotion for all public workers, stating that every teacher will now be assessed based on performance on teaching and grooming of their pupils and being a role model to them. He averred that It will be absurd to retain and keep promoting teachers whose pupils continue to fail both in learning and character, noting that those who do well will be rewarded.
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