EDUCATION WITHOUT MORALS IS USELESS – VC
The Vice-Chancellor Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo, Rt. Rev. Dapo Asaju, has decried declining morals in the nation and insisted that education without morals portends danger to the society. He said attempts to remove morals and religion from schools in the Western World has left the countries reeling under the bizarre effects of lack of control, which has resulted in several school shooting incidents and other societal vices. He spoke yesterday while delivering a lecture at the 74th Interdisciplinary Discourse of the Postgraduate School at University of Ibadan. Asaju, who spoke on the topic ‘Religious Undercurrents in the Evolution of Education in Global Context’, expressed regret that in spite of the fact that Religion was pivotal to the spread of Education in many nations of the world, there seem to be a conscious effort by liberals across the world to relegate religion and morality to the background.
He insisted that Education must not be divorced from religion and morals because that was the foundation on which Education of yester-years was rooted. The professor of Biblical Studies said the tendency for Nigerians, and indeed other African nations, to jettison African moral values in the unmitigated effort to copy the Western World would do Africa no good.
‘we can copy the good aspects of the west and leave the madness they call freedom which has brought in its wake societies where children go to school with guns, and Churches are now becoming Cinema houses; society where parents cannot even correct their children, where homosexualism and, even incest have free reign’ he said
Asaju who is also Bishop Theologian of the Church of Nigeria[Anglican Communion] reiterated that Education, even in the West, came through the church. He delved into history and told his audience, at Main Hall of the University of Ibadan Conference Centre, that Harvard University in Cambridge Massachusetts in United States of America, founded in 1636, was named after a clergyman, John Harvard, who donated the land on which the University was built. He revealed that some titles given to officials in the University system, such as Registrar, Chancellor, Provost and the like, were borrowed from the church.
‘The God factor must not be taken away from Education . We must go back to the godly heritage of the old school. We must not allow secular philosophy to take away the God factor, otherwise the society would continue to grapple with social and moral problems’ he said, arguing that even Science and Religion were not incompatible as some people erroneously think. He stated that early Scientists like Albert Einstein, were top notch Christians, but it did not stop their activities in the field of Science and invention.
He reiterated that Education without sound morals and character does not produce balanced people, which is why , Ajayi Crowther University, which he heads, prides itself in raising godly intellectuals.
He also decried the wave of religious intolerance, which has heightened over the years, saying the golden days of June 12, 1993, when two Muslims contested on a joint ticket and won the election, was gone because religion has now been become an instrument for political manipulation. He, however, said there is very high religious tolerance in Western Nigeria, where families have Christians and Muslims living together without rancor, and encouraged other parts of the country to do same.
He reiterated that morals and the God factor should be returned to Education, saying the society stands to benefit from such move.
After the lecture, the Vice-Chancellor of University of Ibadan, Professor A. I. Olayinka , who was chairman of the occasion, allowed for some contributions and questions . The Dean of Postgraduate school, Professor J.O. Babalola, who hosted the event, thanked Asaju for the brilliant lecture. Some members of Management Team of both Ajayi Crowther University and University of Ibadan attended the event.
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