By Umar Bayo Abdulwahab
Ilorin
In preparation for the National Board for Arabic Examination scheduled for June, this year, over 2, 000 students across Kwara state on Saturday sat for the Mock Examination for Senior Arabic Islamic Schools (SAISE).
The examination, which was held simultaneously in Ilorin, Lafiagi, Tsaragi, Jebba, Oke Onigbin and Osi, was to prepare the final year students in Arabic schools for National Board for Arabic Examination holding in June this year.
Speaking with newsmen in Ilorin at the Kwara State College of Arabic and Islamic Legal Studies, the Chairman of the State Arabic Board, Doctor Abdulkadri Oba-Solagberu, said the examination was a major criterion for the students to be eligible for government sponsorship of the examination.
“The significance of the examination is that it will allow us to access the students particularly in developing, learning and teaching of Arabic language,” he said.
Also speaking, the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Education and Human Capital Development, Hajia Mariam Garuba, expressed satisfaction with the conduct of students during the examination.
Hajia Garuba applauded the Board for conducting the examination without hitches and all forms of examination malpractices.
Head of Arabic Department, Kwara State University, Malete, and a stakeholder on the Arabic board, Doctor Moshood Jimba, said it was “erroneous to confine Arabic language to Islamic religion.”
It’s not a language meant for Muslims alone,” he said.
He said Arabic language should be treated as a global language like English and French which Christians “can also study.”
