• Decision unjustifiable, wrong, say stakeholders • CAN, MURIC disagree
• Saudi Arabia, UAE adopt flexible approach, shorten school duration
• NANS issues 72-hour ultimatum to reverse decision
 
Rancourous debates have trailed Ramadan ‘holidays’ imposed on public and private schools in some northern states, technically shutting out over 11.5 million pupils from the national school calendar yesterday.
 
Findings by The Guardian show that the unusual call by executive governors took a toll on Bauchi, Katsina, Kano and Kebbi, following directives that schools should shut down for the next four weeks to observe Ramadan.
 
Across the states’ metropolis yesterday, were children and adults – both Muslim and non-Muslims– just as confused about the forced and unexpected break. The development has drawn the irk of education stakeholders, with the Parents Teachers Association, National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS) and the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) expressing concerns, describing it as backwards and a contravention of the right of the children to education.

MEANWHILE, the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has issued a 72-hour ultimatum to the affected state governors to reverse their decision. The association described the policy as a gross violation of students’ rights to uninterrupted education.
 
In its response to the concerned stakeholders, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), through its Executive Director, Prof. Ishaq Akintola, described CAN and others as “meddlesome interloper,” noting that Ramadan is “a completely Muslim issue” and does not involve any other faith.
 
Besides, Akintola argued that Muslims are the majority in the four states, and “a democratic country like Nigeria should not be denied their wishes”. It will be recalled that the governments of Katsina, Kebbi, Kano and Bauchi, at the weekend, directed all public and private schools to proceed on holiday for the whole month of Ramadan when Muslims observe strict fasting.
 
The governments said the holiday is to allow students, teachers and other stakeholders to observe the holy month. According to Kebbi State’s revised 2024/2025 academic calendar, the second term would conclude on February 28, 2025, with the Ramadan break commencing on March 1, 2025.
 
The Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Ahmed Idris, said the government approved the break to allow the Muslim community within the state’s educational institutions to engage fully in fasting, prayers and other religious activities associated with Ramadan.
  
The Katsina State government also directed all schools to shut down for Ramadan. A statement particularly ordering private schools to close and warning against non-compliance was issued by the Commander General of the state’s Hisbah Board, Dr Aminu Usman.
 
The holiday directive in Bauchi State, which was handed down through the Ministry of Education, said all schools operating in the state, including privately owned and faith-based ones, are expected to be closed for the next 40 days.
 
The development, it said, is to allow Muslim pupils and students to stay at home with their parents to observe the month-long Ramadan fast. The Kano State government also directed that schools be shut during Ramadan while announcing a review of the academic calendar.

 On the contrary, education stakeholders believe that the complete shutdown of schools could set a bad precedence and worsen the problem of out-of-school children in the region.

DATA obtained from the states’ ministries of education show that while Bauchi State has about 2.3 million pupils enrolled at the basic and post-basic levels across both public and private, formal and non-formal schools and centres, Kano has 4.2 million schoolchildren; Katsina has 2.67 million and Kebbi 2.2 million.
 
The Guardian investigation has shown that the affected states collectively account for about 3.1 million out-of-school children. Nigeria has the unfortunate distinction of having the world’s largest population of primary school-age children who are not in school, with numbers steadily increasing over the years.
 
According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the number of out-of-school children has spiked from 6.4 million in 2000 to 7.5 million in 2010, 9.6 million in 2020, 13.5 million in 2021, and a staggering 18.3 million in 2024.
 
A breakdown of the 3.1million out-of-school children in the four states indicated that Kebbi accounted for the highest number with 1,060,000 (34.2), followed closely by Kano State with 989,234 (representing 31.9 per cent), Katsina State has 536,112 (17.3 per cent) while Bauchi State has 521,000 (16.8 per cent).
 
Some of the barriers responsible for families not sending their children to school in the four states include poverty, insecurity, child labour, socio-cultural norms, and poor infrastructure.
 
Besides the dismal numbers, findings show that core Islamic countries globally rarely shut down schools during the holy month of Ramadan. It was gathered that some Islamic countries, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE)] have adjusted their school schedules during Ramadan, shortening school hours rather than closing them completely.
 
For instance, the Saudi Ministry of Education allowed regional education authorities to set their timetables, with schools in Makkah, for example, starting morning classes at 9:00 am, evening classes at 1:00 p.m., and continuing education classes at 9:30 p.m.

DISPLEASED with the situation in northern Nigeria, the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS) said the decision was unacceptable; however, it was handicapped as it borders religion.
 
An official of the group, who spoke with The Guardian, said they were deliberating on the next line of action and would make their decisions public in due time.
 
Speaking with The Guardian, the Initiator, Creative Change Centre, Omole Ibukun, said the decision to close schools for Ramadan does more harm than good, as it marginalises non-Muslim students and prioritises religious practices over secular education.
 
Ibukun said the move undermines the principle of secularism, which demands the separation of state and religious institutions and perpetuates the erasure of non-Muslims in public policy-making in Northern Nigeria.   
 
According to him, involving parents and students in the decision-making process could have helped find alternative solutions that accommodate Muslim students’ spiritual practices without compromising the education of all students.
 
“I believe that the decision to close down schools for the sake of Ramadan does more harm than good. While it is important to accommodate the spiritual practices of Muslim students, closing down schools only signifies to non-Muslim school children in those parts of the country that they do not matter.
 
“It also signals to Muslim students that religious practices are more important to the state than their secular education. This is an attack on the principle of secularism itself that demands the separation of the state and religious institutions.”
 
Ibukun noted that if parents and students were involved in the decision-making process, the marginalisation of non-Muslim students could have been avoided while still finding creative ways to accommodate the spiritual practices of the Muslim students.
 
On his part, lawyer and Lead Director of the Centre for Social Justice, Eze Onyekpere, described the development as an infringement on the rights of others.   Onyekpere insisted that the directive has no basis in law and is antithetical to common sense.
 
“Christians, particularly of the Catholic faith, will start Lent on March 5. They will still go to work and do their normal duties. Nobody is going to close any place. If you want to close down, it should be voluntary for those people. It’s not something you do like a blanket ban.
 
“If you look at the right to freedom of worship in the constitution, it doesn’t mean you have to impose your will on others.  Everybody agrees that the states that are even trying to do this are the states that are the most backward in terms of educational attainment, and out-of-school children.
 
National President of the Parents Teachers Association (PTA), Haruna Danjuma, described the closure as wrong and unjustifiable.  Danjuma said the governors could have devised other means to motivate teachers and the school children to participate in the fast instead of outrightly shutting schools for the entire period. 
 
He said: “As a parent, the decision is wrong and unacceptable. How would the students cope during exams?  What will happen to non-Muslim students? It is wrong for the government to politicise education, they should allow the students to learn.”
 
However, an international journalist, Alhassan Bala, threw his weight behind the decision, noting that closing schools during Ramadan is not new, having been in place for several years in some states, particularly in northern Nigeria.  Bala argued that the closure is intended to allow students, teachers, and parents to focus on their spiritual obligations during the holy month.
 
In a statement by its National Public Relations Officer, Samson Adeyemi, the group noted that the decision would not only disrupt academic progress but also discriminate against students of other faiths.
 
“We demand immediate reversal of this directive or will be left with no other option but to mobilise students nationwide for mass protests.” He further stated that NANS would explore legal avenues if the state governments failed to comply.
 
Adeyemi called on parents, educators, and civil society organisations to join in resisting the decision, emphasising that prolonged school closure would negatively impact students’ academic performance.
 
This development came amid similar concerns raised by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), which also rejected the decision and threatened legal action.

The Christian body described the action as discriminatory and a violation of students’ rights.  CAN President, Archbishop Daniel Okoh, said: “Education is a fundamental right and the bedrock of progress. The closure of schools across these states, ranging from nursery to tertiary levels, for an extended period disrupts academic schedules and threatens the educational advancement of millions of students.”