• Guest lecturer asks govt to regulate access to social media
The Lagos State Government has organised Ramadan lecture for secondary school students, staff and the Muslim community in over 100 secondary schools in Education District 1 comprised of Agege, Alimosho and Ifako-Ijaye Local Government Areas.
The Ramadan lecture, Muslim News gathered, was the 19th edition to be organised by the education district and the first time it would be executed by Muslim teachers.
The event which was held on Thursday, March 28, 2024, at Government Senior College, Agege, Lagos also featured Qur’an and quiz competitions for both junior and secondary categories.
It was graced by the Tutor-General (TG)/Permanent Secretary (PS), Education District 1, Prince Bashir Adebowale Adeoye.
In his lecture, the Guest Speaker, Dr Sulaiman Ogunmuyiwa, who is the Director of the Quality Assurance Services Unit, Basic and Secondary Education, stressed the need for access to social media to be strictly regulated to protect the future of young people in Nigeria.
According to him, the content young people consume and promote on social media are not usually healthy.
“There are a lot of distractions for the youth today. This is why every stakeholder including parents, teachers and government, should put in more effort. Importantly, we need to do more regulations to control young people’s access to social media.
“The contents coming from Nigerians are not worthwhile and we need more quality content that will promote good values and service to the nation and also be a positive contribution to the world,” he said.
Dr. Ogunmuyiwa charged the teachers to make learning an interesting experience for students so that young people will prefer to be in school.
“Our teachers need to bring the attractions back to school and let learning be more interesting to the learners so that at the end of the day, the students will prefer to be in school than to be elsewhere, and this should be a good challenge for schools and teachers.”
He commended the Ramadan lecture initiative of the state government, noting that religion has a key role to play in shaping the future of the youths.
He urged religious leaders to deploy their platforms to educate and inspire young people to righteousness and morality.
Ramadan lecture will bring Muslim students close to Allah: TG/PS
The Tutor General, Prince Adeoye, who chaired the occasion, said the essence of the Ramadan lecture was to bring young Muslims in secondary schools closer to the Almighty Allah.
He lamented the level of moral decadence among the youth in society, noting everyone has a role to play in changing the narrative.
“We have seen so much social decadence such as students beating teachers, students involved in cultism, drugs and so on. All these are immoralities. Everyone has a role to play to change our society for the better. We should all be ambassadors of change.
“The month of Ramadan is a period in which we have to be pious, pray to Almighty Allah and abstain from all forms of vices. However, it is not only in Ramadan we should abstain from bad behaviour. Ramadan is like a school that has only come to teach and groom us for other periods.”
The Tutor-General commended Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu for his pro-masses interventions including the Lagos Food “Ounje Eko” initiative to cushion the hardship faced by the people.
He added that the Governor has suspended taxes being paid by students to make education more affordable in Lagos State.
Meran and Tomia schools emerge, winners of Quran competitions
For the Qur’an competition, Meran Community Senior School was declared the winner in the senior category, with Keke Senior High School emerging as the first runner-up and Sango Senior High School as the second runner-up.
On the other hand, the junior category was won by Tomia Junior High School, Orile Agege Junior High School followed closely as second, while Station Junior Grammar School took the third position.
The keenly contested Qur’an competition had a representative nominated by each school that made it to the finals.
Winners of the Quiz competition
Winners in the Quiz competition included: Tomia Senior Grammar School (1st), Meran Community Senior High School school (2nd) and Sanmori Senior Comprehensive High School (3rd) for the secondary category; and Sango Junior High School (1st), State Junior High School (2nd) and Oke-Odo Junior High School (3rd) for the junior category.
Why we chose the theme, Alhaja Ayoade
Explaining the choice of the theme, the Chairperson of the planning committee, Alhaja Mulikat Ayoade, who also doubles as the Director of Employee and Industrial Relations, Education District I, Agege, said there were fears for the future of young people in Nigeria.
“We all collaborated and looked at the situation of things in the country generally. We are all scared about the future of our youths. We can all see what they indulge in like taking drugs, being restless, and looking for money at all costs. The decadence is becoming unbearable. So looking at that, we decided to go for that theme and AlhamduliLlah, I think the message is getting across.”
She expressed happiness over the successful organisation of this year’s edition, first in 19 years to be organised by Muslim teachers.
She said, “Every year, it’s getting better. This is about the first time that the permanent secretary insisted that a Muslim should be the one to coordinate even though she is not in the co-curriculum, science and tech department that is scheduled to hold the programme.
“The TG said he wanted a Muslim in the district to head it, and I was assigned the duty. The students, staff and the Muslim community feel confident and happy that it was coordinated by one of them.”
The Director advised the students to listen to their parents, elders, teachers and everyone trying to direct them towards righteousness.
Gathering reminds students, and teachers of their duties: Alhaja Raji
Also speaking, Alhaja Sherifat Akinlabi -Raji, a retired Director of Education and Research, Audit Department in the Office of Auditor-General of the Federation, Abuja, described the Ramadan lecture as essential to remind Muslim students and teachers of their duties.
The retired director who attended the event as a special guest noted that many parents have dropped the ball in training their children, leaving everything to the teachers.
She said, “These vices are common in society today because parents have relaxed thinking everything will be taught in the school. So, the duty of parenting is being neglected.
“It is unfortunate that some of these young people have Quranic knowledge. They’re merely taught the language and how to recite, but they’re missing the intricacies and meaning of what they’re reading.
“In most of our Arabic schools, they don’t teach the essence of the religion and Qur’an they’re memorising. That’s why most students can just recite the Qur’an without knowing the meaning and application of what they’re reading. So it doesn’t have the impact it is supposed to have on them.”
