What’s on the table for the Islamic/Arabic/Majalis students from the National Cake? Our Sheiks must stop the fights, come  togather  and demand for their rights and rights of their students.

Every year, thousands of students are graduating from different islamic insitutions around the country, but what have our succssive Government’s put in place in terms of policies and programs to help this vital sector of our country to attain a meaningful and productive lives by provison of economic and employment opportunities etc, after graduations from these insitutions? Is there any strategic policy in place to get Arabic/Majalis Students get employable after their graduations? What have the successive Governments did to improve the quality of islamic insitutions through infrastructural support, scholarships and curriculum harmonisation to increase the cahnces of our Islamic studies graduates in the Job markets? Is Government really addressing the challenges of Islamic and Arabic education in the country? Certainly No! Tallinding Islamic insitute was established in 1963, but infrastructurally, the school is in a serious state of  disrepair as the old and archaic existing structures are almost beyond repair. This is an insitutions that produced Prominent Scholars and professionals contributing immensely to not only religious propagation but to the socioeconomic development of this country but yet still the most neglected insitution. Are they equally not taxpayers? Over the years, we have witnessed the succesive Government’s giving out  logistical and infrastructural supports to all conventional educational insitutions in the country, including mission schools, while islamic insitutions continue to wallow in a complete state of hopelessness and blatant discrimination. Its high time for the Governments to begin to view islamic schools beyond a mear centre for production of IMAMS and PREACHERS and critically look at how to empower and invest on this vital insitutions for the realization of the socioeconomic growth and development.

Complicitly, our islamic Scholars/leaders who suppose to be the torch bearers to advocate for this insitutions against this blatant discrimination continues to show indifference to the plight of the fucture of these insitutions and the very peaple they moulding by openly or subtly engaged in political mystificaton and praise signings for the authorities. Clearly, our islamic Scholars and leaders are partly responsible for the normalization of these injustices and discriminations perpetuated by our successive Governments. You will always here them preaching and calling for the support for MANSA with slogans like: ” Let’s support  Our Leaders”,  ” We are behind the ‘Mansa’ ” and calling for the  congregation to follow suit and sidestepping pertinent issues confronting thousands of islamic/Arabic students coming out yearly from different islamic insitutions.

Our religious scholars should stop assuming praise singers roles and demand for the equal treatment and distributions of National Resources to all and sundry, including islamic insitutions and its community. Demanding for your rights peacefully and constitutionally doesn’t amount to REBELLION/PROTEST (KHURUUZ) against MANSA as often misinterpreted by many Islamic Scholars. If you don’t wake up and demand for your rights, no one will do it for you and the discrimination will continue forever. The current state of the Islamic insitutions is untanable as thousands are graduating annually with limited opportunities to thrive within our governance establishments and if proper measures aren’t taken the situation could one day degenerate to something else. As we are in election period, our scholars and imams should begin to interrogate politicians as to the polices and programs they have for the thousands of Arbaic/Islamic students in the country. All these peaple can’t be imams and scholars .

 

Saikou Imam Jabbi

Former MAHAD student.