The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has accused the Lagos State Ministry of Education of forcing Muslim students to attempt Bible knowledge questions in the 2022 entrance examination for public schools.
MURIC Director, Prof. Ishaq Akintola, who made the allegation in a statement on Tuesday, said the incident gave Christian candidates an edge over their Muslim counterparts and put them at a disadvantage.
Akintola said, “Our office has been inundated by reports of strange questions in a general paper set for the Lagos State Primary Six Placement Test into JSS 1 in Lagos secondary schools held on Saturday, 23rd July 2022. The reference number on the question paper was LSA/PT/2022.
“Although the paper was captioned English Studies/Verbal Reasoning/General Paper, questions 12 and 14 were from the Bible, and only Christian candidates could have made head or tail of them. These two questions were designed for Muslims to fail.”
He alleged the bible knowledge questions were designed to upset Muslim students and make them lose confidence in themselves.
“The caption of that paper should have been ‘Common Entrance in Lagos State…Muslims Come and Fail’. Question number 12, which is an objective, says, ‘Paul was born in a city called …Tarsus…Jerusalem…Jordan…Bethel. Candidates were expected to pick one of the four options. But how on earth is a Muslim candidate expected to know what to pick?
“Ditto for question number 14, which reads ‘The English Bible was translated into the Yoruba language by …Pastor Joseph Ayo Babalola…Bishop Benson Idahosa…Pastor Enoch Adeboye … Bishop Ajayi Crowther.
“This is parochial, provocative and unacceptable. This is another proof of the Christianisation of the education sector in Lagos State. How can anyone defend this? It is scandalous.
“Who set these obnoxious questions? Who proofread and supervised the examination? Who approved the questions? Heads must roll,” he said.
According to Akintola, this was expected, especially since all the six tutor generals in the state are Christians. He also said the state government refused to listen to appeals from Muslims to stop its exclusivism.
He further stated that, “We had three Christians and three Muslims in the days of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Raji Fashola. Muslims were removed under Ambode, and the incumbent has refused to listen to complaints from the Muslim Community.
“The Muslim candidates have been put on a tight rope because the instruction on top of the question paper says ‘Attempt all questions.’ This means that anyone who jumps those two biblical questions does so at his or her own risk.”
He also said Lagos Muslims pay taxes like their Christian counterparts, wondering why they are being “relegated as third-class citizens”.
