Stakeholders call for cohesion between MSSN, MUTAN

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9 years ago

A call has gone to the Muslim Teachers Association of Nigeria (MUTAN) and the Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria (MSSN) to close ranks and forge a better understanding in the interest of Muslim students.

The call was made by participants at an interactive forum jointly organised by MUTAN and MSSN in Alimoso, Lagos.

MSSN officials were charged to identify with Muslim teachers in pursuing the interests of the students in order to avoid working at cross purposes, while MUTAN members were called upon to collaborate with MSSN members.

The MUTAN chairman, Alhaji Abdur-Raheem Jimoh, lamented what he called marginalisation of Muslims in the scheme of things in Lagos State, saying that Muslims were in the minority in the sharing of the positions of principals and tutors-general.

He appealed to the government to offer Muslims better deal while acknowledging the development of the education sector by the Akinwumi Ambode administration.

Delivering a lecture titled “Making it Count,” Dr Imran Adeleke of the Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education charged Muslim teachers to take the job as an assignment for which they will give account before Allah on the Day of Judgement.

He also advised members of MUTAN to familiarise themselves with activities and programmes of MSSN.

The Amir of MSSN in the state, Dr Saheed Ashafa, sought the cooperation of MUTAN in ensuring that the rights of Muslim students are protected.

He lamented “dwindling” academic performance of Muslim students which, he said, had necessitated the establishment of extramural classes by the MSSN.

Participants also lamented the lack of Islamic Religious Knowledge teachers in schools.

The Head of Department of Private and Public Law, Lagos State University, Professor Adeleke Funminiyi Abdur-Raheem, commended Muslims in the state for the peaceful manner in which they had been pursuing the rights of Muslim students as they pertain to the use of hijab by Muslim female students in public schools.

He, therefore, advised them to be strategic in their approach and shun doctrinairism in order to achieve their aims.

The forum was the second in the series, the first having been held in 2015.