MURIC seeks school administrators’ cooperation on use of hijab

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), Lagos State Chapter, has appealed for cooperation from school administrators to allow Muslim students practise their religion without any intimidation and encumbrances, as the children resume for the 2024/2025 academic session.

The group, in a statement issued by the Chairman of the Lagos State chapter, Dr Busari Jamiu, said most importantly, the verdict by the Supreme Court granting the use of hijab for the female Muslim students in schools must be respected, as he described it as “a deserved constitutional and Allah-given fundamental human right.”

He noted that despite this landmark legal vindication, “some overzealous teachers and administrators were still taking laws into their hands and oppressed Muslim children unabatedly.”

He said: “As we wish Nigerian pupils and students a promising and fruitful academic session, it is an undisputable fact that while education has no equal, it must be acquired under a conducive and friendly environment. For decades, this could not be affirmed in Southern Nigeria; from Lagos to Akwa Ibọm, Delta to Osun, Oyo to Rivers, Ebonyi to Ondo and other states in the South South, South East and South West Nigeria, Muslim children are denied fundamental rights of practising their faith in some  schools where they learn.”

He expressed bitterness over how Muslim children were being maltreated across schools in the southern part of the country, saying, “the sacredness of Friday for Muslims to observe obligatory congregational prayer is being tampered with in some schools. Examinations and  programmes are sometimes fixed at the Jumah period, while some schools do not even allow the students to observe prayers at all in the school premises. All these are flagrant contradiction to the provision of Section 38(1) of the Nigerian 1999 Constitution as amended.”

Jaimu, therefore, urged the stakeholders and school administrators to be just and humane in dealing with Muslim pupils and students as they do with their other counterparts.

He said: “We are all Nigerians. This country belongs to everyone and Muslims and their children are not second-class citizens. Acquisition of education under friendly atmosphere remains  rights of everyone, which must not be subverted.”

“MURIC stands for justice and we are watching. We believe in peaceful co-existence and an egalitarian society, where Paul or Ogundele is not favoured over Abdullah or vice versa. The time is now! Let all the children learn, enjoy, prosper and grow for the betterment of our country and humanity.”