Church Explains Call For Schools’ Return

The Catholic Church says its clamour for the return of mission schools to its original owners was to ensure proper moral training for the students and to raise the standard of education in the country.

The Director, Media and Communications, Catholic Secretariat, Archdiocese of Abuja, Rev. Fr. Ralph Madu, said this in an interview with our corresponmdent in Umuahia.

Madu spoke on the sideline of the 2012 second Plenary Meeting of Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria, saying “if such schools are returned, the standard of Nigerian graduates will further improve.”

The clergyman noted that the pervasive immorality in the society such as cultism, drug addiction, indiscipline, corruption, prostitution and violent crimes were all connected to faulty education foundation.

He said though churches in Nigeria were asking for the return of schools taken over during the military regime, most churches had re-established nursery, primary and secondary schools.

“The Bishops Conference of Nigeria had established Veritas University, now being rated among the best universities in the world.

“Veritas is not just good in the area of academics, but in inculcating morals and ethical values that should characterise a good society,’’ he said.

He said it was important to impart sound moral values in the youth so as to ameliorate the numerous socio-economic and political problems of the society.

Madu added, “Catholic Church is not new in education, renowned universities like Prime University are owned by the church, among others.”

The clergyman stressed the need for states that had returned mission schools to their original owners to provide them with grants.

He appealed to state governments that were yet to return the schools to their owners to do so in the interest of the educational development of the country.