Muslim parents join those of other faiths to protest the campaign for the hijab to become part of the Isi uniform

PARENTS of some of the pupils of the International School Ibadan (Isi) have held a protest outside its front gates calling for an end to the campaign for some pupils to be allowed to wear hijabs as part of their uniform.

Over recent weeks, Isi has been at the centre of a religious storm as some pupils have insisted on wearing the Muslim veil the hijab as part of their school uniform. As the debate became heated, the Isi authorities decided to shut down the school and dissatisfied with developments, parents, under the auspices of Concerned Isi Parents Initiative protested against use of the Muslim wear.

Armed with placards with inscriptions discouraging the introduction of religious crisis in the 55year old school, the parents, who are Muslims, Christians and traditional worshippers, took their protest to  the governor of the Isi board of governors Professor Abiodun Aderinto, who is also the deputy vice chancellor, academics of the University of Ibadan. After holding their protest, the handed him a four page letter dated to register their displeasure.

Some inscriptions on the placards read:  "No to religious discrimination in ISI," "Say yes to peaceful co-existence in ISI," "Stop, don’t divide our children," "No to religious crisis" and "Let our uniform be uniform." In the letter titled Clamour for the introduction of religious (Hijab) as part of the uniform of our children in the International School, University of Ibadan, they said  that Muslims, Christians and traditional religionists were part of the peaceful protest.

In the letter signed by Olalekan Thanni, Babaawo Awosanmi Abe and Olusola Aleshinloye, the  parents said: “We want to use this medium to inform the management that the school is not only populated by the two dominant religions but also has traditional believers. These groups had vowed to enforce their rights in line with their Muslim counterpart’s claim to right of use of their religious emblem in hijab wearing.

"A scenario in which armlet and Ifa traditional beads are freely used as religious symbols in the school will not be funny. What will then become of the uniformity concept of the uniform when the school environment could be taken as market place of sorts where a rainbow of apparels is the order of the day?

"May the day never come when Isi becomes the example of what a school environment should not be. The current dress code/uniform of the students of Isi, which has been in use since inception, about 55 years ago, has no religious coloration, is good enough and sufficient to fulfil our moral obligations to the children and it should not be a subject of discussion out of the jurisdiction of the constituted board of governors as done by this Muslim Parents Forum."

Professor Aderinto  said: “This is just a phase that will pass in the history of Isi and I strongly believe that Isi will pass over this period. Just trust us that the current closure will not be too long and we are taking action to ensure the issue is resolved amicably and soonest.”