Can I find a religion-free school for my child in Nigeria? Temidayo Ahanmisi speaks

I used to worry constantly that Religion was destroying Nigerian schools.

I wondered how as a society we could promote Rationalism and scientific methods of inquiry when we teach children from the outset that a being called Satan could make them forget what they have read in an examination hall.

I actually heard a woman say this of her son who failed his common entrance exams.

I have a multi-religion background. I didn’t want too much religion for my own kids. Scratch that. I’d rather my kids jettison Religion in totality.

The problem however was that I saw religion being taught right from the schools. I don’t know how IRK is presented these days, but the pentecostals are doing mayhem in their usual fashion in the christian realm. A lot of schools are introducing texts to children which makes CRK a more practical design.

It is no longer bland story telling. They now actively proselytise children and ask them to ”save souls for Christ”. The irritations of the pentecostal pulpits from Sunday services are creeping into schools.

I, on my part, have always countered the filth from society by raising my child to be sceptic. My child questions everything and rejects philosophical constructs which offend humanist ideals and objectives. I knew then the power of parenting in the venture of indoctrination.

If I could deliberately provoke my own to stoke her natural bent to curiosity this way, imagine how a parent on the other hand could stifle and completely destroy such in their own wards. I began to worry about the effect of early formal indoctrination and outright brainwashing of Nigerian children in schools.

I once had to wait to meet someone near a primary school. They set up a microphone on assembly and a preacher came on to deliver a 45-minute long sermon to the children. A fiery sermon full of testimonies of Jehovah killing household enemies and witches who tried to mess with his children.

Then the children were enjoined to go into a loud prayer session that lasted at least 30 minute. They prayed, they cast out devils, they spoke in tongues.

Primary school children.

I shook my head and pitied them.

Then my own child’s school teacher invited her pastor to anoint the children in her class. My child reported that some of her classmates were ”muttering nonsense” and contorting into ”crazy” poses They said they were ”in anointing”.

I resolved to withdraw her from that mentally toxic environment.

She is different. I won’t have her singled out and treated as offensive and queer by any idiot society.

My singular concentration on finding a secular school for my child led me to find a few schools right in my town that are fully secular. No teaching of Religion.

It is a very well run institution which teaches Critical Thinking as a core subject. The teaching methods are way ahead of other schools. The work culture of their staff is commendable.

I regret that though I would have loved to sing the praises of this school to high heavens, I am hampered for security reasons from doing so. Besides the school is bogged down with requests.

The owner tells of being pressured at inception to jettison the idea of cancelling out the teaching of either IRK or CRK. Most parents withdrew their kids for this reason. The school integrated the Character Counts patented curriculum to meet the demands for some form of moral instruction for kids.

The Character Counts System is now being franchised in several schools across Nigeria. Ask about it.