Aregbesola’s handling of Osun hijab saga laudable – Aremu

Worried by the crisis rocking the education sector of Osun State, an education expert and national pesident of Baptist High School, Iwo, Old Students Association, Prof. Oyesoji Aremu of the Faculty of Education, University of Ibadan, in this chat with Correspondent, OLADELE OGUNSOLA, counsels Governor Rauf Aregbesola to take another look at the issue. Excerpts…

As an educationist, could you give an overview of the unfolding events in the education sector in Osun?
Looking at it from the education point of view, what is going on currently in the industry is pathetic. For any progress and meaningful development of the child’s education to take place, the individual child must be taken holistically, in terms of cognitive, which is ability to perform in the school; psycho-motor, which talks about movement; and lastly the affective, which is the feeling of the individual child. Let us assume that learning is taking place because the children are still going to school and there is movement at least to their respective schools, but the affective domain has been badly affected since last year with the various policies of the government. From last year, with the introduction of same uniform for all the school, followed by the merger of schools, the affective domain as said has been problematic.

Could you explain how did all these become problem for school children?
Fine, unless all these factors mentioned above are addressed, there is no way effective and productive learning can take place. When you talk about the same uniform for all the schools, what you are saying is that individual schools should lose their identity, and this in a way has its attendant psychological function because a lot of pride, affection and passion are attached to each school’s identity which is why you see old students of some of the schools kicking against the policy.
Come to the issue of schools merger, you are eroding the culture and values of each of the schools so merged. All the schools at the level of establishment by the founding fathers had peculiar culture and orientation as well as school’s colour as reflected in the choice of uniform; all that is gone with the merger. Then, you talk about the environment; it is just natural that with change of environment, there is a psychological problem occasioned by process of adjustment. This in a way has a role to play in the process of learning. What’s more, the situation becomes worse when the environment becomes non-receptive to those coming in; this can lead to serious set-back in learning. The children that are asked to move, the question to ask is, are the host receptive of them? New environment takes a long time before it becomes adaptable due to what is called stimulus control. The children must be used to the environment before adjustment can take place. The attendant effect of all these is that if a child is not emotionally and psychologically balanced, learning in the true sense of the word will not take place. It doesn’t mean that children will not be going to the school or they are not going to the school; they are going, but, is the purpose for which they go to school being achieved, if learning is not taking place in its true sense? You would recall that the resumption to the schools in Osun at the beginning of the current session had to be postponed. But would WAEC/NECO postpone their examinations starting in April this year? What becomes of the syllabus which would have suffered as a result of the postponement? It is certain that the syllabus would not be covered, and if covered, it means the teachers would rush through, which would affect the performance of the children during the examinations. This is what we are saying.

Your alma mater, Baptist High School, Iwo, has attracted special mention in the ongoing crisis. How do you feel as an old student?
As an old student, I remember the legacy and the training, discipline, standard in us and I feel bad as an old student that we are in the news for bad reasons. I feel bad that my school is not being talked about as one with the best result; a hitherto notable school for sporting activities is not being talked about as having excelled in sporting activities again, but being portrayed as a school where indiscipline is rife, where students put on hijab, choir robe, minister’s cassock, where masquerade now comes to learn. It is absurd, very agonising that all the legacies I enjoyed are now being eroded. School is for learning, students now see one another as enemies. During our days, we had Muslim Students Society (MSS); all the students saw themselves as one. During the Ramadan fast, the early morning food is usually provided for the Muslim students and we all sang from the Songs of Praise (SOP). It is very sad as things have now turned out to be; they have jettisoned the legacy of the founding fathers.

Owing to the charged atmosphere in the school, security agents were alleged to have taken over the school’s premises, even with the school in session. What’s the implication of this on teaching and learning?
It was not an allegation, but the exact situation, because as the current president of the Old Students’ Association, I was at the school personally and I saw the security agents with my own eyes. They might have left by now, I can’t say, but they were there as at the time I went there. Talking about the implication on teaching and learning, I can say with all emphasis that it is abnormal because none of this can effectively take place under tension. To me, it is as if we are having a version of Boko Haram insurgency at hand. Just as the school children in the Boko Haram-ravaged area are not sure of when their attackers will arrive, so also the children schooling at BHS under the tension of security agents. From the professional point of view, there are five ways of teaching, and the moment one of them is impaired, there is dislocation in learning. They are the environment, which must be conducive; the teachers, who must concentrate; the learners, who also need concentration; the resources, which must be available; and lastly, there must be emotional stability on the part of both the teachers and the learners. So, in your own view and if you agree with the importance of all these agenda as crucial to teaching and learning, would you say both the teachers and learners are in conducive environment where and when the security agents are breathing down on them? Would you say there is emotional stability on their parts as well? In a nutshell, the simple truth is that learning could not be said to be effectively taking place under such environment. In the 80s, when we were there, we enjoyed ourselves to the fullest because all we just mentioned were in place and, to the glory of God, we were prepared for what we are today. It thus calls for concern among educationists as well as among serious old students, who genuinely have the love of the school at heart.

Aside your visit as the head of the old students, what other areas are you intervening in the affairs of the school?
We are not just starting. During re-union last year, our association donated computer, renovated the school library and other sundry things to ensure that the old glory of the school is returned. We are not stopping at the tangibles alone; we also made our voice heard after the meeting last year, especially on the issue of same uniform policy of the state government. As far as we are concerned, uniform is an identity and it goes with school colour. All these create an identity and a kind of bond among the students of the same school. They give it self-esteem; it is a leveller, and the moment you take all these psychological attributes associated with them away, then, you can talk about the attendant problems associated with the same uniform policy, as it makes identification of schools impossible. The implication is that all forms of indiscipline school children are associated with can take place without getting to know which particular school an offender belongs to. What if students go for sporting activities, debate and other extra-curricular activities, how do you identify the participating schools? What if there is post-competition crisis, how do you identify the schools involved? One can go on and on.

You said you had MSS in your school during your days, how come now that the same school is kicking against the use of hijab by the female students?
The problem is not about the school, but the government that refuses to be consistent. I will tell you why and how. In February 2004, the Osun State Government released a booklet with the title ‘Guidelines for School Administration and Discipline’, and Section 8.2.V states that hijab-wearing will be allowed in Muslim schools; and that where a student chooses not to wear, she shall not be compelled. Unfortunately, up till now, there has not been any other booklet to counter the one under reference. So, it is the government that is violating the letters of the document. Let the government answer these questions: Is hijab part of the official school uniform? Does the government distribute hijab alongside uniform to students?

So, what is the position of your association on the wearing of hijab among the students?
Our position is simple: whatever you put on the school uniform, remove and keep in your bag when you get to the school gate. Any student that goes contrary to that should be disciplined.

How do you assess the government’s response to the crisis?
I will say it is commendable. The visit of the governor to my old school in Iwo showed him as a listening governor. His response on the hijab was non-committal when he said his administration did not approve or disapprove wearing of hijab in schools. My understanding of such response is that it is a non-issue. All said and done, the government, as noted earlier, should be concerned about the quality of education. The parents also should be concerned about the number of teachers we have in schools, the state of school libraries and laboratories as well as the quality of teaching being given by the teachers. It is sad that we now only have parents’ conference and the usual PTA (Parent Teacher Association) no more in place. It is wrong. Parents are not the only stakeholders in the schools’ administration. The system should be decentralised. The governing board system should be brought back. At the association level too, we know that we have serious work at hand. We are disturbed and disillusioned with what we saw during our re-union last year. We are now more concerned that we should go back and re-orientate the students.