Hijab controversy: UI school shutdown indefinitely

Following the hijab controversy rocking International School, University of Ibadan (ISI), the management of the school on Monday shut down the educational institution indefinitely.

Deputy Vice Chancellor of University of Ibadan and Chairman Court of Governors of ISI, Prof. Yinka Aderinto, disclosed this today.

Muslim parents of the school under the aegis of Muslim Parents Forum (MPF) had last week written to the management of the International School, notifying them of their intention to make their daughters dress to school with hijab but the management rejected.

However, the Muslim community in Oyo state in conjunction with the MPF had on Monday morning staged a peaceful protest at the gate of the school demanding that the students of the school who wore hijab were given access to the school premises.

In the presence of combined security teams of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and UI security men, the protesters carried different placards such as “Stop the intimidation now”, “peaceful co-existence in saner clime.”

Speaking with journalists, the Secretary of the Muslim Community in Oyo State, Imam Ismail Busari expressed disappointment over recent trends in the ISI.

He said there is nothing that prohibits adorning hijab in section 7 of the Student Handbook of the ISI.

“ISI is established on the soil of the premier university, which is expected to be a civil society, but unfortunately at this time and age, when peaceful co-existence is essential, the fundamental rights of the minority are being trampled upon.

“They have denied our girl-children from access to basic education for almost a week now only because they adorn a shoulder length hijab.

“We have come to appeal to the management of the school, the Federal Ministry of Education and the National Assembly to please enforce the rights of our children.

“We do think though we have checked the Article 7 of the Student Handbook, which is about uniform, there is nothing there that bans use of hijab,” Imam Busari said.

He contended that the hijab the ladies were wearing does not sway them from being focused in their education as recent development has shown that the best graduates in Universities like Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, University of Ilorin, among others are hijab-wearing ladies.

Also speaking, Prof. Aderinto who was accosted by some angry Muslim parents at the ISI gate appealed to the protesters, saying normalcy would return to the school soon.

He said the action of the protesters was “unexpected” adding that there were series of meeting held even with the concerned parents.

The Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic) told the parents that “these students are our children and we cannot allow anything that will lead to bloodshed to happen to them.”