Muslims need inclusive education to become relevant
The Paramount Zongo chief of the Central Region, Alhaji Mawude Dende Maza, has stated that Muslims need an all-inclusive education with Islamic subjects to make them relevant in national development.
He said “we cannot continue to have schools with only Islamic subjects, we need an all-inclusive education with Islamic curriculum or subjects to make us relevant in national development”.
Delivering a paper on the topic, “Education a Tool in Poverty Reduction in Zongo Communities” at the annual conference of National Association of Zongo Chiefs (NAZAC) in Koforidua, he made it clear that poverty remained in the Zongo communities because of lack of education and misplaced priorities.
He said people in the Zongo’s were not poor because of laziness, but because they failed to make education a priority for their children and rather focused on extravagant social activities at the detriment of their wards’ education.
The paramount chief of Zongo cited the extravagant funeral and marriage ceremonies often witnessed in the zongo communities adding “yet we cannot educate our children who continue with the cycle of poor living conditions and environments in later years”
He therefore called on all Zongo chiefs and leaders to prioritise education in every effort by creating the enabling environment for children in the zongo communities to have access to education to address the poor infrastructure and sanitation issues.
While agreeing that it was important to upgrade the Zongo communities which are now in the commercial centres according to the Ministry of the Inner cities and the Zongo development, he appealed that education should be given the priority as the bedrock of all strategies.
The NAZAC was formed five years ago to create a platform for all Zongo chiefs and leaders to discuss dispassionately issues affecting the Zongo communities and chart a collective path to addressing them especially the issue of education.
Alhaji Sultan Omar Farouk Saeed, leader of the NAZAC and paramount chief of Ashanti Regional Zongo, said despite being in existence over the last five years, the objectives of addressing the concerns at the Zongo communities had not been met although plans had been advanced.
Source: GNA