By Leo Igwe
Humanists are deeply concerned by the directive to shut down schools during the month of Ramadan in Muslim-majority states because it violates rights to Freedom of Religion or Belief (FORB)and education. Bauchi and Katsina have issued directives against the operation of schools during Ramadan.
In separate press statements, authorities urged public and private schools to vacate during the Muslim fasting period. In Bauchi, the Ministry of Education changed the academic calendar and made February 26, 2025, the official closing date for all nursery, primary, and secondary schools in the state. All schools were directed to be on holiday from March 1st to April 5, 2025. The Ministry of Education also warned schools against defying this order. In Katsina, the Sharia police, known as Hisbah, asked schools to close for Ramadan. They warned against conducting extra lessons during this period. Official and unofficial closure of schools will apply in other Muslim-dominated and sharia implementing states in the country.
Sharia was imposed on Muslim-dominated states in Northern Nigeria in early 2000, and proponents stated that Sharia implementation was only for Muslims. But this development and others belie this claim. Sharia is not only for Muslims. Sharia law is enforced on all persons. Sharia provides a pretext for Islamists and jihadists to impose political Islam on all Nigerians despite their beliefs or nonbeliefs. Measures must be taken to address this unfortunate development before it is too late.
The directive to close all schools during Ramadan exemplifies Islamic tyranny. It violates the right of students and teachers to freedom of religion or belief. All Nigerians are not Muslims. Not everyone in Bauchi and Katsina states professes Islam. Christians, and adherents of other faiths and none exist in these places and have the right to practice their faith or belief. Some Muslims who voiced support for this directive claimed that this closure would help students and teachers to observe Ramadan. But if there is no compulsion in religion as stated in the Quran, why should Islamic state authorities compel students and teachers to stay at home during this fasting period?
Again constitutionally, Nigeria is a secular state and has no state religion. Section 10 of the constitution prohibits state support or promotion of a religion. It states that no part of the federation or state should adopt a religion as a state religion. However, this directive makes Islam the state religion in Bauchi and Katsina. It discriminates against non-muslims and demonstrates state bias and support for Islam. These states do not extend the same facility to Christians during the fasting period, do they?
Humanists urge the Nigerian government to rescind this order to close all schools during the month of Ramadan and guarantee the rights of all Nigerians to freedom of religion or belief and education.
No Nigerian child should be forced to choose between fasting and going to school. Ramadan should not be observed at the expense of education for all.
Leo Igwe is a board member of the Humanists Association of Nigeria and Humanists International, UK.
