Ensure pupils return to school after Eid - Muslim parents urged

Officials at the Islamic Education Unit in the Ashanti Region are calling on parents not to allow their wards to stay home after the official Eid al-Fitr holiday.

The concerns come in the wake of previous experiences in Islamic schools where most pupils and students stay away from school in the days after Islamic festivities.

Officials are worried the trend is gradually affecting academic activities in Islamic schools and proper measures must be adopted to end it.

The Ashanti regional director of the Islamic Education Unit, Alhaji Ibrahim Abubakar Amankwah, speaking to Class News’ regional correspondent, Hafiz Tijani, warned that Islamic schools would not meet the academic calendar if pupils and students from such schools exhibit similar attitude in this year’s Eid al-Fitr.

“In Islam we have two festivals. The first is Eid al-Fitr and the second is Eid al-Adha, and when these festivities coincide with the period when school is in session, the Muslim pupils abandon school and this is something the Ghana Education Service frowns upon,” he stated.

“In Islamic schools we learn English and Arabic and the academic calendar is already short for us to achieve our aim, so we would plead with parents of wards in Islamic schools that after the mandatory public holiday on Monday, 26 June, 2017 to celebrate the Eid, they should encourage their wards to go to school. We have received many complaints from teachers that the children abandon school weeks after the Eid celebrations, which is not the best. So we are encouraging parents to also help us and encourage their wards to go to school after the Eid day.”