IMPACT OF ISLAM AND CHRISTIANITY ON EDUCATION IN NIGERIA

Impact of Islam on Education

INTRODUCTION The purpose of an Islamic school and the role of an Islamic school teacher can also be presented by drawing on the early models of Islamic education and the teachers who were called upon to dispense knowledge to students:

...because of the inseparable bond between ‘Islam’ and ‘education’, the teacher in a Muslim society has to be a ‘committed’ teacher, and consequently ‘accountable’ to the society... a teacher’s harsh treatment of a child was quick to attract attention and the great educators like Ghazzali ... and Ibn Miskwayh ...advocated the use of rewards, recognition, and recreation (play) by the teacher to motivate learning, rather than any form of punishment. Ibn Khaldun explained how physical punishment was psychologically harmful and distorted the normal growth and development of the child. (Al-Afendi & Baloch, 1980, p. 169)

A number of points are raised in this extract. Firstly, a teacher in a Muslim society is answerable to the people. His or her actions and words are the target of scrutiny. Moreover, he or she must be a dependable and responsible person, whose role does not end with the bell but continues even after school, implying that a teacher’s professional duty is one that extends to society. He or she must not be seen to engage in any questionable activities.

There is also a point made that a teacher should not be severe and resort to punishing the child but use strategies involving positive reinforcement and also appreciate the value of play as a means of learning and providing the student with a motivating learning environment.

Shami raises the point that Muslim teachers who are trained in colleges and other professional institutions based on models from the West are not equipped to deal effectively with delivering an Islamic education to a Muslim child. This, he says is because such an institution does not cater for the spiritual development of the child. He calls for a teacher who is ‘responsible for the development of the soul ... the mind and body’, (Baloch & Afendi, 1980, p. 155). The implication may then be that teachers who are trained at the latter institutions should be given opportunities for

There is also the point that ‘the most important quality of a Muslim teacher is not what he knows but what he is’, (Baloch & Affendi, 1980, p. 157). The emphasis is placed on the character of the teacher. The teachers must be exposed to exemplary behaviour on which to fashion themselves. Presumably this would come from the teacher training institutions in the first instance and then the leadership body within a school.

A teacher in the Islamic tradition is also a guide to leading pupils to the righteous path. Consequently, the excellence of a teacher in Islam is not only measured by his or her faith, beliefs, character and conducts. This notion of a teacher in Islam is a very important consideration in the preparation of teachers for an Islamic school system. (Hashim, 1997, p. 58)

This can be used to further highlight the necessity for a Muslim teacher to put subjects in the context of Islam. If subjects are not Islamized, the indication is that the resulting pupil, through not viewing God to be the author and controller, assigns the latter to something other than God. He will therefore suffer a weakness in faith.Mawdudi also believes that students should consolidate their knowledge in Qur’anic Studies and thereafter ‘be offered a course in comparative religion so that they can assess for themselves how mankind went astray’. (Rauf, 1988, p. 67)

Impact of Christianity on Education

Christianity; feels responsible to contribute concretely to the progress of the society within which it works; for example Christianity is capable of searching for ways to make education accessible to all those who should benefit from it especially the poor or members of minority groups who customarily have been deprived from education. It is not enough to establish schools that ordinary church members cannot afford to send their wards; hence corruption is thriving as everyone is running the rat race to make up; thereby spending more than what they earn.

The contribution of the Church to the educational development of Nigeria remain unparalleled. Christianity used their limited resources to build schools all over the place and products of these schools have competed and still completing favorably with their counterparts anywhere in the world. Generations of our best teachers, professors, lawyers, medical doctors and other professionals were trained in places like Immaculate Conception College (ICC), Benin.

Let me quickly state, without equivocation, that the first Executive Governor and the best Governor, Bendel State (Edo and Delta) ever had, Prof. Ambrose Folorunsho Alli is a product of Christianity, he was admitted to ICC, Benin in 1944, which means to say, he was among the first student of our great school, no wonder he performed beyond measure.

Up to 1970, many of the schools in various places in the Nigeria, especially in Southern Nigeria were either established or managed by Christianity. Like in other parts of the world, it has always been a thing of pride to associate with a Christianity owned or run school. Without the Church, there is no way Nigeria could have made the stupendous progress it has recorded in education, especially from 1945 when the Second World War came to an end.

Christianity impacted on the Nigerian indigenous system of education. They were after formal training of the mind, for this reason they encouraged boarding accommodation so as to supervise, control and direct the learner along proper lines (Nnamdi 2002).

It is important to mention here that, most of the guidelines set by Christianity on education in Nigeria, still serves as the basis for the modern day educational policies, education laws and techniques of educational administration in Nigeria today (Martins 2005).

CONCLUSION

Christianity can well be described as the barometer of the Nigeria’s development hence schools were Christianity’s most important social institutions in the country. Whatever the motives in the historical and sociological perspectives may be, Christianity schools were the greatest service done to Nigerian people.