Hijab crisis: Kwara law shows govt don’t own mission schools – Baptist

The South-West Conference of the Nigerian Baptist Convention has appealed to the Kwara State government to return Christian mission schools to their original owners.

The appeal was made in a statement signed by the presidents of all the different Baptist conferences in the South-West in reaction to the order by the Kwara State government which gives Muslim female students the right to wear hijab as part of their uniform in all schools in the state.

The PUNCH reported that the order was rejected by the Kwara Baptist Conference and other Christian organisations which forced the government to close down 10 schools in the state

The Christian organisations say that hijab would never be allowed in the schools built by their Christian forefathers. They also demand that the state government should stop granting aid to the schools and return them to their original owners.

However, the state argued that it took control of the schools in 1974 and has managed their affairs which include funding and staffing, pointing out that arguments that the schools still belong to either Muslim or Christian missionaries have been flatly rejected in court.

The claim by the state has been faulted in the statement by the South-West Baptist Conference which cited the 1974 Education Law Edict of Kwara State signed by the then military administrator, Colonel Lasisi Bamigboye (Rtd).

The statement said, “There is no gainsaying that Christian mission organisations, as far back as the mid 18th century, 1865 to be precise, have and are still playing significant roles in providing qualitative primary and post-primary education in Nigeria. The evidence of this can be seen in the number of mission schools established within Nigeria, Kwara State inclusive. Nigerians will recall that some Muslims attended our mission schools and they were not forced to change their religion, people in that category served the nation. Punch