MUHAMMAD SAIDU JIMADA

NIGERIAN INSTITUTE OF TRANSPORT TECHNOLOGY, ZARIA

BEING A TEXT OF A CONTRIBUTION TO A SEMINAR ORGANISED BY MUSLIM STUDENTS SOCIETY, NIGER AREA UNIT AT MINNA, ON SATURDAY, 1ST JULY, 2000

In the name of Allah, the Guardian of Faith and the Guide to the Right. That, I am strictly speaking, not an educationist poses the problem of what I can do with the kind of technical topic passed to me for my input. Although I was for some time involved in educational administration and then in the administration of training, I cannot claim to be qualified to professionally compel the managers of the system and the creators of the 6-3-3-4 to give me their specialized attention. In fact, the Muslim Students' Society is not one of the recognized platforms or forums that is required or is expected to bother it with such a burden or responsibility. And in the event it happens, it must have resulted from either the over ambition of the Muslim Students' Society or the lost of strategy by the professional who deserves to be listened to on such a subject by the stake holders. What I am going to attempt to do is to make my contribution as a Muslim. If you like, you can define my attempt as one of giving an Islamic analysis of the issue. The appropriateness of this lies in the fact that this is a Muslim forum. And, if the creators and managers of the 6-3-3-4 are committed to serving the needs of Muslims, they will not be foolish to give me their attention, along with all Muslims, irrespective of their occupation and their state in Nigeria. METHODOLOGY I will proceed to make my contribution by attempting to provide an understanding of the theme of this seminar, as a basis for defining the topic I have been given for discussion. In the process of doing this, I will highlight the Islamic perspective, which is what matters to Muslims, from my own understanding. At the close of my contribution, if any listener or reader of this paper understands the status of the topic in relation to them, for Muslims, the primary objective of my input would have been satisfied. Any positive deductions on the steps, methods or strategies for making the 6-3-3-4 system satisfy the needs of Muslims will be welcome. But I will not bother myself with any prescriptions. HOW TO BRIDGE THE EDUCATIONAL BACKWARDNESS IN NIGERIA Please excuse me from HOW TO BRIDGE, which will relate to methods or joining or filling up the two ends. I have already requested that this will be secondary. Thus, what is EDUCATION, from the view point of the topic, 6-3-3-4? The first level of relation, will define it as the acquisition of a TESTIMONIAL of completion by a student. This can be given at the level of completing 6 years of primary education; 3 years of Junior Secondary Education; Senior Secondary Education; or on completing a post secondary programme. I will want to believe that, those who designed the 6-3-3-4 did not do it, to record mere completion of the period at any level as a form of achievement. And if this definition does not count for the creators of the system, it will be of insignificance for Muslims. This understanding is therefore to be ruled out.
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The second level of definition is that of acquiring an authentic certificate of PASS from the system. Although this pass is graded, only that level that qualifies one or a student from 6 to move to 3 or 3 to the next 3 or from 3 to 4 will matter; and that pass at the end of 4. Those who designed the system will not mind recording such achievement as commendable in itself. However, it is only a quality requisite for LIVING after schooling. Thus, such products of the 6-3-3-4 can he considered as mature physically and mentally, to play useful role(s) in society, in the making of history. In Nigeria, the adult will make a quality Muslim man or woman. However, this is only one aspect of the story. Thus, the third level of definition combines satisfactory completion and useful economic employment. The 6-3-3-4 is therefore at the same time a sociopolitical and economic instrument-cum-strategy in the development of boys and girls to become useful to themselves and to the society. Let me also quickly add that the system does not guarantee employment. Thus, the pool of unemployed products of the system with TESTIMONIALS or CERTIFICATES is not an evidence of the primary failure of the 6-3-3-4. What is guaranteed is the capacity. Thus, if a successful product is given an opportunity, it is expected that he or she will be ABLE to play a useful role. Indeed, the 6-3-3-4 system attempts to attend to ABILITY at an early stage; thus, those who are not academically inclined can sieve out from the first 3 level and proceed for technical training instead of the next 3. This allows for their proper and advanced relevant training through polytechnic for instance. The products of the system may therefore be gainfully and usefully employed by the government, the private (organised) sector or by themselves as individuals, in their family occupation or that of the community. But, successful completion of school(s), gaining of employment and good performance to earn promotions are not the ultimate objectives of role playing for the products of the 6-3-3-4 system. This brings us to the fourth level of definition. This consists of QUALITY PARTICIPATION or MANAGEMENT in society and of the society by the products. The distinctive identity or character of the system is claimed to be neutral, secular or non-religious specific or multi-religious. It will therefore produce a good Muslim, Christian, traditionalist, unbeliever etc. This definition is to my mind the most fundamental for both the designers, the managers and should be the focus of Muslims. What distinguishes Muslims, is our definition and the standard of measure for the QUALITY. This is what I will turn to, when I come to treat my topic shortly. Now that we know what education stands for, what should we understand with BACKWARDNESS? At a general level, it refers to any level of performance from below average to total failure in terms of the form and quality of the product participation after schooling. But, this will have to be placed in comparative perspective of time. One option of the definition can therefore refer to a comparison between the past as against the present. This definition presumes that the record of the past was better than the present. The second option is that, the present record of performance is backward both in terms of the number of products and the quality of their performance against the future. The future here will be defined as the time and level of achievement that has been set.
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For example, there is the dream of complete eradication of illiteracy by the year 2000; housing for all Nigerians by the year 2000: or health for all by the year 2000. However, late Sani Abacha was modest to shift his national dreams to 2010 and as a vision. The dreamers are also becoming more realistic. After all, year 2000 is already running out. From my understanding, although the first and second options of definition may be useful for the general assessment of the 6-3-3-4 or Muslims that pass through the system, it is not enough. I will want to suggest that the definition of backwardness or the subject of any gap, will for a Muslim be between the present or previous level of Muslims quality of participation in society and for the society as against or from the stand point of the standard(s) of Allah and his Messenger. Anything contrary or variant from this, will not be of particular relevance to the. This brings us to what is meant by IN NIGER STATE. From the definition or Education, Backwardness and Educational backwardness, it will be appreciated that any structural scope for placing the problem of educational backwardness is irrelevant, or diversionary, for Muslims. The first class of irrelevance is defined by any structural scope within the geography of Niger State. This may be between the products of public as against private schools. This may be between Unity and Ordinary schools; between Federal and State schools; between boys and girls schools; between those of mixed and pure schools; between Muslim/Christian and secular schools; between professional (like teacher training) and general schools; between schools located in the towns and those located in the rural areas. It may also be between the products of the 80s as against those of 90s. It will not matter if the statistical records of comparison to define the educational backwardness are a level or a combination or levels in the system of 6-3-3-4. This is possible because in Niger Stare you can find primary schools (6); Junior Secondary schools (3); Senior Secondary Schools (3); Colleges of Education (an option of 3); Polytechnic (options of 2 or 3); University (option of 4 or more) as post secondary education. The second class of irrelevance in the definition of IN NIGER STATE or structural placement of educational backwardness can cover comparative scope(s) outside the geography of Niger State. This may be between Niger and other Northern states that share similar developmental characteristics; between Niger and those Slates created in the year 1976; between Niger and the former Benin or the present Edo State; between Niger and Sokoto State; or between Niger and any other states. Thus, for Muslims, it is sufficient to relate educational backwardness to the standards of Allah and His Messenger in terms of the quality participation or the Muslim products from the 6-3-3-4 system. 6.-3-3-4 BANE OF THE PRESENT EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM? Having defined education and its relationship to the standard of Allah and His Messenger, as the measure of relevant quality for a Muslim, the investigation of whether or not or how the 6-3-3-4 system is its own cause of the crises, problem or any failure will now constitute the subject for commentary or analysis.
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The first assumption is that there is a problem or crises or failure. From the definition already given, it can be understood that the system that seeks to meet the needs of Muslims quality participation in and for society is the same system that is responsible for the problems, crises or failure. In order to understand the correctness or falsity of this assertion or question, I will attempt a characterisation of the system and relate what is relevant for Muslims to the standard(s) of Allah and His Messenger. 6-3-3-4 AS A STRUCTURE OF SCHOOLING From the angle of the number of years, a child is milled through this system; he or she will ordinarily spend a total of sixteen years in school. After this, the successful product will then be left to seriously continue, with little formal assessment or arrangements as a Muslim. Before this structure of years of studies, the practice used to be 7-5-4 totaling the same sixteen years. It will therefore appear that the problem of the 6-3-3-4 structure is not in the number of years a child spends schooling. And for a Muslim or even a non-Muslim, this structure does not in itself make much or sufficient meaning without a relationship with another factor(s). This character of the 6-3-3-4 includes not only the buildings marked for the years but also the infrastructure. Thus, the furniture and laboratory equipment are inclusive facilities. The second character of the 6-3-3-4 system is what the professionals define as the curriculum content. For our level of discussion, it will be enough to only note the significance of the number and depth of the subjects or courses to be covered through these periods of schooling. While I am not competent and don't in fact require to bother myself with this aspect, it is enough to appreciate that constant improvements are being made in this respect. As a Muslim, even though, this characteristic is critical, I am sure that we are likely to easily agree that the amount and scope of Islamic studies and Arabic entrenched in the 6-3-3-4 caters for the average needs of a Muslim in a secular or multi-religious schooling system. This, in combination with the structural characteristic of the number of years of schooling does not therefore appear to be the problem. This leads to the third characteristic, relating to the structure of the years of the child that will be admissible and as he or she passes through the system. The normal age of registration is six. By the time an ordinary pupil completes his primary education, he or she is twelve years old. The first three makes it fifteen. And it is at this point; the child could veer into technical/vocational education or proceed to senior secondary school for another three years, to make him or an adult by the constitution of this country. Additional four years will make it twenty-two years while the completion of the National Youth Service will make it twenty-three years. At this stage and age, a successful product is considered ripe or mature for LIVING after school. This does not suggest that the materials will not be useful, before the age of twenty three. On combining the characteristics identified so far, the central status and role of teachers is compelled, because they give life to the structure of the years of studies, the infrastructure, the growing years of the students and the curriculum. The assumption of
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the 6-3-3-4 system is that, the right number of qualified or certified teachers is available. But, although this assumption is necessary those of us who are living witnesses to the operation of the system cannot be foolish to ignore the disgraceful inadequacy of the infrastructure, working tools/materials, teachers and the sustenance of these. These inadequacies are evidenced by the facts that most managers of the system send their own children to private schools: most of those in public schools are in graded schools like interstate exchange schools or public model schools or better funded federal schools or special schools like Gifted Children School at federal level or respected schools arising from minimal interference with their required funding and management standards like lucky Government Secondary Schools or Colleges. Various Alumni therefore believe that they are aiding the society by jumping into what is primarily the responsibility of the administrators, professionals and managers of the 6-3-3-4. Where it is not the Alumni, it is the Parents Teachers Association that is recruited to share in the primary responsibility of the 6-3-3-4 execution. I have personally noticed with interest that in Kano, the children of the emir attend the local primary school by his palace, which he attended too. The local government council responsible for the school meets up with its primary responsibilities for the school, in spite of anything. These trends, in my opinion make false the diversionary mischief of drumming that government alone cannot cater for the education of the young. It further confirms that these aspects of inadequacies that are filled up by CHANCES of alumni, P.T.A. or special arrangements/allowances cannot be held up, for the failure of the 6-3-3-4 package or system of education. In other words, even though these infrastructural, manpower and financial inadequacies principally contribute to the quality of the products, the crises of the number and quality of passes certificates cannot mean that the design is faulty. And since the design is not to be blamed, Muslims who pass through the system will not have any special cause to complain. What the managers, professionals and administrators of the system give to the Muslims that pass through it is not less than what the Christians, traditionalists or nonbelievers get. 6-3-3-4 AND THE ORIENTATION FOR MUSLIMS After providing an understanding as to why and how the structural characteristics of the 6-3-3-4 system cannot account for any problem in it and what reflects in those that pass through it, I will now attempt to comment on the orientation that the system permits. Since we are not operating an Islamic system, the question of guarantee is out. The Muslims must not misunderstand the system of 6-3-3-4 education as one that is set to make good Muslims out of it. The truth is that products may be good, but they have the option and liberty not to be. This can distinctly he appreciated on comparing the orientation of Hidaya run by the Islamic Education Trust or the Baptist School against those of public schools that do not have religious orientation like polytechnic for technologists and technicians, college of Education for teachers e.t.c. I will therefore now proceed to highlight the orientation that distinguishes the Muslim, the perspective that will apply in the assessment of the 6-3-3-4 system. It will therefore

be assumed that the 6-3-3-4 is in good state, since we have argued an understanding to the effect that the structure does not in itself stand to be blame worthy. For quality participation/management in society and for the society during school days and after, Muslims guide by Allah and His Messenger is that: And I (Allah) have not created the Jinn and Mankind but to worship Me (Alone). Quran 51:56 The concept of worship here covers salat, fasting, charity and Hajj, built on Iman. Salat covers not only the canonical prayers but also the remembrance of Allah. The constancy and involvement of the worshipper is thus measured by the tradition of Muhammad (S.A.W) that it has the effect of keeping the practitioner from evil. Thus, those who do not get affected do not benefit from their salat and Zikr. This state or form of worship or submission is clothed by a further pillar defined as fasting. This includes Ramadan and non-ramadan fasting. Like Zikr, it is fasting to abstain from what is forbidden even if there is some good in it or even if it is found to be attractive or tempting. It therefore goes beyond abstaining from food, drink and sex from dawn to sunset. Those who fast and do not cultivate patience and perseverance or the discipline of holding tight onto the rope of Allah are by the side of the middle course. Thus, taking of alcohol, gambling, marrying a charming unbeliever or sex during a woman's menstrual period are out, for a Muslim. With charity, beyond material things or dormant wealth that necessitates giving out the small portion for Allah, the essence of charity is to be harmless to others and be helpful to men. Thus taking a harmful object out of the road, aiding an aged man are all acts of charity but not generosity with stolen resources. In the same vein, Hajj does not stop at the Umrah or lesser hajj. It also defines consistent and quality salat, five times daily, every Friday congregational prayer for a period of one year, culminating in Id-el-Fitr and Id-el-Adha. Iman, the foundation, is the total and regular commitment of a Muslim to the life style defined above - FOR THE SAKE OF ALLAH. In relation to the 6-3-3-4 structure of education, a Muslim is required to commence salat at the age of seven that is in primary two. This becomes more serious at the age of ten and inexcusable at the age of maturity. For all of the above the child, the student or the adult are the same before Allah. Thus, by the time one goes through the educational system and completing the National service, at the age of twenty-three, the Muslim should be already grounded in submission to Allah. These are the things that make one a Muslim or not. Any other involvement by a Muslim is not primary. In other words, anything that cannot fall within the scope of the five pillars is not relevant. The capacity building that the 6-3-3-4 system commits itself to, with benefits like engaging in productive employment or participating in leadership role after schooling are to be carried out in the context and spirit of the five pillars. Thus, Muslims who are employed should be found to be honest and those in leadership should he found to be just. Muslim women will be found to be chaste. They will be virgins even after their
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National service, except they are or have been married. But is this the situation? My fear is that it does not appear to me, to be. And the 6-3-3-4 educational system is not to blame. THE BANE OF THE PRESENT EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM For the appropriate orientation Muslims require fundamentally to be abreast with the Qur'an and Hadith and to LIVE it according to their collective understanding and examples of those who are in leadership of obedience. And the 6-3-3-4 system does not provide for these, even though it may claim to provide ingredients of introduction. The primary responsibility rests with our parents. The learned, the scholars among us are to serve as the light, showing the way. In other words, even though a child may be attending an Islamic chain of schools, where the required orientation are fairly guaranteed, it does not absolve the parents from the primary responsibility for this orientation. It will therefore be too ambitious or even irresponsible to contract a child to the 6-3-3-4 system and commit oneself to chasing material benefits through work (by both father and mother), with the illusion that we are Muslims, bringing up Muslims. THE BANE OF THE PRESENT EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM can be defined as Muslims quality participation from the standpoint of being created to worship is the failure of the Muslims. This is because religious education is compulsory for every Muslim man and woman, while the parents are the first gate of entry. If parents are therefore ignorant or careless through neutrality or commercialisation or this primary responsibility, the community is the loser. Muslims therefore have the primary responsibility for the compulsory religious education of the younger ones at the family level and then as a community. The latter is the banner under which the Muslim students' society can be categorised. As for parents who do not themselves know, they must go out and get to know and impart the same in the children. If the children have already grown up, they should then go out along with the children to seek and acquire knowledge in the same or different schools. This is an area where there is no excuse other than ignorance and the love for fire. This theoretical foundation of exposure is then required to be supported by examples at personal level and institutions at corporate level. Those who enjoin what is good, forbid what is evil and compete in the doing of good can then come to get her and open a community bank based on Islamic principles to avoid giving and taking of usury, regardless of the name it is called by unbelievers. In this way, through economic opportunity, the community will be able to guard themselves against the danger of going to war with Allah and His Messenger on their returning to life after death. Unless and until Muslims take up their primary and necessary responsibility for SELFRELIGIOUS EDUCATION that is compulsory and the only foundation for proper or quality participation/management in and for the society, it will be fool hardy to shift the blame on others or expect that others will volunteer their commitment. This same failure of Muslims is responsible for the breakdown of the family unit through moral laxity among youths/adults in the forms of fornication, adultery and divorce. If
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Muslims suspect that family planning and sex education are rational aids combined with women empowerment, I will recommend a rethinking. Such an impression was what infected Muslims suffered from, to claim things like Islamic Socialism or Islamic Democracy. CONCLUSION 6-3-3-4: A CRITIQUE OF THE MANAGERS/ADMINISTRATORS AND PROFESSIONALS If I have provided an understanding to the effect that the 6-3-3-4 educational system is not to blame in-itself, for the definition of education as satisfactory completion and employment for quality participation in and for society, it is not to suggest that there is no way out of the experiential crises. This becomes fundamental because I have suggested that the Alumnis, the parents Teachers Association and governments, special attention are not the primary requirements for improving the status quo. So, where is the problem? My opinion is that the masters of 6-3-3-4 have been empty of the rational philosophy for implementing it. In other words, they have not bothered about the principle that ought to determine the implementation for success. This is reflected in the insincere ambition to admit all children into the system irrespective of the available resources. And they are blame worthy, because they have tried to reduce the 6-3-3-4 structural requirements to classroom space. They have greedily done this through opting for socialisation of children on the streets. They have come to call it DAY SYSTEM, claiming that boarding is expensive and avoidable. The masters of 6-3-3-4 have chosen to avoid what has been tested and found beneficial on the arguments of involving parents more and getting the children to help the parents at home. But even poultry farming gets better attention, for developing plastic or salt-less broilers and layers. We are now all witnesses to the fact that no amount of DAYYING can make the 6-3-3-4 system recover from the shortfalls of classrooms, furniture, laboratories, tools, funds, teachers, textbooks, stationeries etc. This foundation of philosophical bankruptcy has dead people entrusted with the 6-3-3-4. They are dead because they have not been modest. They have continued to tolerate and accommodate degeneration of the quality of implementing the 6-3-3-4 even after irrelevant invitations to save the situation. It is like having a fashion designer presented with a grown up woman and a quarter of a yard of clothe for sewing an Islamic covering for her. I therefore pray for modesty and sincerity on the part of the masters of 6-3-3-4 while Muslims should sit up to their responsibilities. 16th June, 2000.