By Bukola Hameed
An Islamic human rights organization, Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), has commended the state government for boosting the teaching of Arabic Language in the state. However, the group urged LASG to complement the effort with the recruitment of more Arabic teachers in order to make it pragmatic and effective. The commendation was given by the Director of the organization, Professor Ishaq Akintola, in a press statement circulated among journalists on Monday, 31st August, 2020.
MURIC’s statement came on the heels of a workshop organised by the Ministry of Education for Arabic Teachers across the six education districts of the State. Speaking at the opening ceremony of the workshop, the Permanent Secretary, Mrs. Abosede Adelaja said the Lagos State Government (LASG) has rekindled the interest of public school students towards learning Arabic language with the introduction of teachers to new skills and methodology that will simplify the process and make it more interesting.
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The workshop was held at the Multilingual International Resource Centre, Maryland, Lagos, on Thursday, 27th August, 2020, under the theme ‘Teaching and Learning of Arabic Language in Lagos State Schools: Status, Challenges and the Way Forward’.
MURIC posited, “The workshop organized last Thursday 27th August, 2020, for teachers of Arabic by the Lagos State Ministry of Education is quite laudable. It will go a long way in boosting the teaching of Arabic Language in Lagos public schools. The theme was quite apt and it depicts LASG’s readiness to improve the teaching and learning of languages in the state.
“However, we appeal to the Ministry to complement this move by recruiting more teachers for the subject in order to make the workshop pragmatic, effective and rewarding. There is a huge shortfall in the number of Arabic teachers vis a vis the number of public schools in the state. This has resulted in the nonavalability of Arabic teachers in many schools.
“We urge the state government to investigate the claim being made by teachers of the subject that presently 98.5% of public schools in Lagos do not have teachers of Arabic Language and that the few who were originally employed in primary and secondary schools are teaching Islamic studies. This trend may defeat the very purpose of the workshop and the state government’s good intention particularly if LASG wishes to remove the language barrier in the path of the state government as it strives towards making the state a 21st century economy.”