The Headmistress of Apimpoa Islamic School at Koforidua, in the Eastern regional capital, Hajia Latifah Rahman has called on muslim communities expecially, leaders to invest more in building more Islamic schools to enable the Zongo communities in the country expecially Koforidua to enhance their words growth idevelopmentn education.
She said, although it is not bad building mosques it is a misplaced priority in most muslim communities with several mosques left unused while others don’t even get full up due availability of many mosques within the community.
She established that, there is a big issue of misplaced priority amongst Muslims especially in the Zongos or urban areas, adding that you would see a small community with less than 300 to 400 people but over a dozen mosques all over without proper healthcare or educational facilities.
According to the headmistress, the investments being made in building such mosques should rather be used to build basic Islamic schools, senior high Islamic schools and tertiary Islamic schools.
Hajia Latifah noted that, an Islamic school teaching both arabic and english would produce the needed human resources to run a mosque.
She made this call during the climax of the 60th Anniversary Celebration of Apimpoa Islamic school held on Saturday(December 16) at the school’s premises.
The anniversary was on theme; “60 years of excellence in engineering, the spirit of volunteerism and patriotism: the role of Islamic schools in nation development.”
The headmistress stated that the anniversary marks a significant milestone for the school especially in the rebranding process to upgrade its facilities and results.
Hajia Latifah indicated that, the school’s performance has been disappointing over the years due to the lack of support from parents because it is tagged as an Islamic school.
She called on old students and philanthropists to help the school construct a place of convenient for the students to ensure the smooth flow of teaching and learning.
Meanwhile, addressing the gathering, Dr. Abdul Razak Kailani, the Chief Executive Officer(CEO) of Greenfield Limited advised muslim parents to invest in the education of their children and desist from buying every cloth meant for marriage ceremonies.
He indicated that, the investment made in buying such clothreferred as ‘ya’ayi’ in the hausa language can be used to buy books, pay for extra classes in other to improve the learning capabilities of their children.
Dr. Kailani added that muslims should be encouraged and jealous to succeed in secular education to clear the notion that muslims are generally against secular education because it will make them an infidel.
According to him, although the notion is still there, muslims are catching up when it comes to human resources maintaining that there’s more to be done in infrastructure to ensure that Islamic schools and education catch up with the rest.
The Eastern Regional Coordinator for Early childhood Education, Madam Eugenia Agyeiwaa Effah, underscored the significance efforts of Education in children during the early childhood especially in the Zongo communities and not withstanding instilling virtues values of volunteerism and patriotism for nation development.
According to her, the role of Islamic schools in nation development goes and grew beyond classroom, however many of these brilliant people actively engage in community development underprivileged areas to ensuring equitable access to quality education.
She therefore called on managers of Islamic institutions concentrate on building more educational infrastructure which will help serves as centers of innovation and intellectual growth in engineering and technology.
She however urged the Islamic schools to prioritise STEM education and provide their students with the necessary skills competencies and knowledge to excel in such field, hence contributes to nation development workforce and also to foster a culture of innovation and technology advancement.
The school children thrilled guests with different culture displays from different tribes in Ghana while the cadet of the school also entertained the guests with their parade.
The school also awarded founding members for their dedication, resilience and hardwork. Hardworking teaching staffs and outstanding students also received awards for their contributions to the school.
Source:Mybrytfmonline.com/Paul Manyo
