We would build a university – Madalla Academy proprietor

The education system is declining due to a number of challenges. Are there any actionable ideas that could lead to general education improvement? One thing that is fundamental to enduring and excellent education is funding. The government and individuals who are into the provision of education should know that we cannot achieve success in the […]

The education system is declining due to a number of challenges. Are there any actionable ideas that could lead to general education improvement?
One thing that is fundamental to enduring and excellent education is funding. The government and individuals who are into the provision of education should know that we cannot achieve success in the education sector unless it is properly funded. Government educational institutions have over the years been falling due to lack of proper funding. I sincerely believe that the standard of public schools will improve when fund is made available to them substantially.
Government has to make huge budgetary provision to fund education. It should set aside 30 per cent of the national budget for education if it must achieve the desired improvement in the sector. This also goes down to owners of private schools across the country. There is no way we can achieve success in providing quality education to the citizenry without proper funding by both government and private owners of schools. This is my opinion.

What are the achievements recorded by your school in the last 25 years of its existence?
The International Islamic Academy, Madalla, formerly known as Islamic Training Centre was conceived in 1991. I set up the school to satisfy the needs of the Muslim community within Abuja and its environs for a school that will offer sound Islamic morals and western education. We started in a car garage with less than 55 pupils and with just nine staff. We focused on developing the children for Islamic based education under the watch of professionally trained teachers; and the hard work and dedication of our staff resulted to impressive performance of our students over the years.

What are challenges you faced since the establishment of the school?
We had faced many challenges, and by the Grace of God we were able to surmount them. We had security challenge as a result of bomb blast at Saint Theresa’s Catholic Church, which is just about 300 meters away from our school. As a result of the blast many parents withdrew their children from our school. We thank Allah that today there is no more security threat in the area and everything has gone back to normal.
Today, we have two campuses; one of which accommodates our nursery, primary and secondary sections. We have the ambition to establish a university in the nearest future. But before then we want to start by offering some A level courses. Right now we are in affiliation with Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, to run diploma courses in Arabic and Islamic studies as well as Interim Joint Matriculation Board (IJMB) examinations. Our new site would be used for the IJMB and Diploma courses.