Those who watched media clips of Baptist High School pupils, Iwo Osun State,would have been amazed at the sight of students dressed in sundry religious apparel. There were those in hijab (veil); choir dresses while others appeared in flowing white garment clothes – apparently denoting the religious mix in that particular school. Of course, there were others who appeared in their usual school uniform unmindful of the seeming dressing competition.
The situation looked quite confused. A young man who was taken aback by the scenario could not help but exclaim “religious dresses on parade”! That was the situation in that school and it had its roots in a recent court judgment which permitted female Muslim students to attend classes in hijab.
A suit filed in 2013 by the Muslim community against the Osun State government, had asked the court to grant Muslim students the use of hijab in some public schools where they were being harassed and discriminated against.
Their counsel premised his argument on the decision of the Court of Appeal, Ilorin between the Provost of the College of Education and one BasiratSaliu and noted that female Catholics wear veil, Mary mother of Jesus always appears in picture with veil on her head. He then prayed the court to allow female Muslim students wear veil in those schools since they have been wearing it in accordance with the 2004 directive of the state government.
Justice JideFalola premised his judgment on section 38 of the Nigerian constitution and Article 8 of the 2004 policy published by the state ministry of education and restrained the state government from disallowing female Muslim students the use hijab in its schools.
But the Christian Association of Nigeria, (CAN) Osun State chapter did not take kindly to the matter. It has not only accused the state government of plans to Islamize the state but vowed to resist any move to implement the ruling. It went ahead to order Christian students in all schools founded by Christians to wear Christian garments and vestments as part of their school uniforms. The students who appeared in sundry Christian apparels and vestments were only following the directive of the Christian body which has also indicated its intention to appeal the ruling.
The development generated serious tension with the state government threatening to expel students who disobey the official uniform. But the threats did not change the situation as the students, apparently buoyed by the support of the Christian body defied government threats for three consecutive days.
An attempt to stop them at the school gate nearly resulted in crisis but for the timely intervention of the traditional ruler of the community. For now, grave yard peace pervades the state as both Muslim and Christian leaders have resolved to maintain the peace so that the legal battle will run full circle.
That appears the most sensible thing to do since CAN has indicated intention to appeal the ruling. It has no doubt, drawn copious attention to its position on the ruling and cannot go beyond that without prejudicing the very appeal it seeks to file.
At issue however, is why the use of hijab has become so contentious in Osun school system? This poser is pertinent when it is realized that state takeover of schools in the state dates back to 1975. If Muslim and Christian students in the state co-habited without any shred of suspicion and antagonism for over 30 years, why has the hijab suddenly become an issue? Why did the Christian schools before now operate without problems even as they were being run by the government? Why has the use of veil become such an issue that the Muslim community in that state had to approach the court to enforce the rights of their students to wear it to school?
The ugly development has its roots in a recent policy of the state government to merge and re-classify schools. In some of these schools, the Christian groups that founded them have their churches and other places of religious worship domiciled in those premises. They have their own established tradition fashioned along the line of the founders. And this has worked out fairly for them especially as some of them were single sex schools.
With the merger, they had expected that any student in their system would be brought up in their tradition since both Muslim and Christian students had co-habited without any problem. But soon, the issue of hijab resonated with the Muslim community approaching the court for their rights to be enforced.
This of course, raised genuine suspicions. The Christian groups saw it as an attempt to Islamize the state. Though the court ruled in favor of the use of hijab in the schools, it is obvious from current events that that ruling is fraught with serious problems for peace, harmony and order in that state. For, rather than the takeover and merger of schools acting as a melting pot for sectional, religious and primordial differences, they have curiously become an embarrassing reinforcement of these ugly tendencies.
That is quite unfortunate, to say the least. It may be convenient for the Osun state government to wash its hands off the current controversy on the guise that it was the one that was sued. That the Judge cited article 8 of the 2004 policy published by the state ministry of education on the matter, meant there is a state policy on it.
Given the forgoing, it would be a herculean task to convince the Christian groups that the government is not remotely behind the controversy. This writer was in class three in a seminary when the then East Central State government took over schools immediately after the civil war. We were during that period, given an essay on the takeover of mission schools.
I did argue in support of the takeover, citing my experience while growing up in a village catholic primary school. Then, it was a harvest of antagonism and discrimination between pupils of the Catholic faith and those of the Church Missionary Society (CMS) (now called Anglican)
The way CMS was presented to us made us loathe anything having to do with their pupils. Not unexpectedly, this resulted to abuses, quarrels and occasional fights between pupils of both schools especially while going home after classes. Iargued in that essay that takeover of schools will eliminate all that negative indoctrination and the attendant rivalry and antagonism.I remember very vividly that my teacher, a Reverend, noted in my script: Are you sure? But to my big surprise, he still scored me very well.
Given this background, one can then understand the huge contradiction in the agitation for the use of a particular religious veil in government schools in Osun State so many years after. And if one may ask, what then happens to the veils of other religions as counsel to the Muslim community rightly pointed out. Will Catholics then approach the court to enforce their rights to veils? And what type of future shall we be erecting in the minds of impressionable youths who are being introduced to religious bigotry so early in their lives?
These are some of the inherent contradictions. And if one may ask, how much value does the use of hijab hold in the educational advancement of Muslim students especially in a state that is largely reputed for its high level of religious tolerance and understanding? It would appear that the matter is an unnecessary distraction with loaded prospects of rupturing the peace of the state. There are a myriad of challenges of the ordinary citizens that require the attention of the government than the dissipation of energy over such mundane issues.
Beyond this, the controversy highlights the contradictions in government policy on the takeover of schools. It also brings to the fore the incongruity in the merger and re-classification. If these policies are incapable of improving on a subsisting order, it is better to maintain the status quo.
