Date: 2021-01-08

THE Chief Press Secretary to the Kwara State Governor, Alhaji Rafiu Ajakaye, has been honoured by the Platforms Montessori School, Ota, for his commitment and dedication towards the resuscitation of Qur'an reading culture among primary school-age Muslims.

Ajakaye received the Award plaque from Chairman, Parents Teachers' Forum (PTF) Mr Ashimiyu Olayiwola, during the first Walimot-ul-Qur'an and Prize-Giving Day.

Olayiwola, a senior pharmaceutical staff with the Lagos State Government, urged other well-meaning Muslims to emulate the virtues, which the management of the school, found in Ajakaye before honouring him.

The school, founded on the principle of sound British and Islamic Curricula, graduated five pupils with mastery of Qur'an recitation. They are; Rofeequr Adeola-Yusuf; Mazeedah Badmus; and Shukroh Anthony.

Others are Zainab Aderibigbe and Muzeedatulkhaer Ogunbiyi.

Ajakaye urged parents to resuscitate the culture of Qur'an recitation in their children.

He said: "One of the key requirements for better living is sound understanding of the words of Allah, the Holy Qur'an. So, what we are witnessing today at this school is a sign that we still have people who are deeply interested in training children that will be sound in both British and Islamic curricula.

"The timetable for most, if not all, of the pupils in primary schools now is designed in a way that, if proper care is not taken, the Culture of Qur'an recitation may wane totally in our society. A Muslim child who we send to a standard school will finish by 4 pm daily. He or she will, soon after that, be loaded with heaps of home works. Some of them will sleep off while trying to do the homework. Where, then, is the time to go to Modrasa?

"Therefore what the Proprietor of this school, Hajia Fateemah Adeola-Yusuf, is doing by including Qur'an classes in the timetable is a great effort at placing our children and society on strong pedestal of morality and sound academics." Hajia Adeola-Yusuf added that Muslims should also become partakers in the revival and preservation of a dying legacy of Islam, the mastery of recitation of the Holy Qur'an, as part of the necessary steps at ensuring a society peopled by learned and righteous individuals.