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The Saturday Classes Dilemma: the sad case of the Muslim Student INTRODUCTION The average Ghanaian child as we have been told by educationists over the years is being unnecessarily burdened with a loaded curriculum at all levels of the educational ladder. Indeed I dare say that is without doubt. The least said the better relative to challenges that have bedeviled our contemporary educational system ranging from the quality of teachers, the physical school structure, encumbered syllabus and government policies in that direction, yet another fringe problem within the context of this write-up: Saturday Classes hounds children. THE PROBLEM: EMBATTLED YOUTH The Muslim child is in perspective here because he/she is a very complex academic creature, enduring five secular school days � Monday through to Friday before having a weekend schedule of showing up at Islamic School, (i.e. makaranta). Here are Muslim children and youth who MIRACULOUSLY (caps mine) blend two alien educational systems, (for emphasis) systems that are miles apart, attend school hardly with any breaks, an undoubtedly complex situation it has been and still is for many Muslim children, a harsh reality; I call it. Ordinarily, our educational system is supposed to run for five school days as above indicated, the concept of breaking school after five days was primarily to allow students to have rest, in some cases to attend church services and prepare for another five days schedule. Apart from weekends, students have national holidays; midterm breaks (usually a maximum of three days) and vacations (long/short) as periods off mainstream academic work. Off mainstream academics for the simple reason that these periods have a certain element of academics drafted into them by way of classes, which are to a large extent by choice except for one which comes with a coercive effect, sadly so. Saturday classes like all other extra class sessions would most certainly have been mooted on the premise of giving students a certain measure of academic aid especially so with a very loaded curriculum as above reiterated. What set out as an academic helping hand to those who needed it is turning out to be institutionalized as most schools clandestinely and surreptitiously hide behind Parent Teacher Associations (PTA) to force children to show up for sixth school day. All the better for public schools, who can barely flout the Ghana Education Services� directive of no classes, the private school operators seem to be having a field day, passing a caveat that these classes fees are even drafted into school fees. The question that bugs the mind of many here is: if a teacher failed to impart into a child within five school days, what real significance would the sixth and conventionally informal school day do? Indeed, what this concept especially in the Junior and Senior High Schools have succeeded in doing over the period and in some instances for that matter has been for teachers to defer particular lessons to the Saturday class, threatening students who dared to absent themselves. Then again for most private institutions, the concept has everything to do with the little currencies (50p and above) that is demanded from students for the services of the very busy and sacrificial teacher who could have other better things doing I guess. In all of this the Muslim child is left to choose between Scylla and Charybdis, (i.e. between the rock and a hard place) relative to whether he attends the sixth school day or heads for the Islamic school. It is at all not funny when young siblings return from school with reports that they had received varied degrees of punishments from lashes to being asked out of particular lessons for the simple reason of not attending Saturday classes. A subtle form of this guerilla class sessions is of tertiary institutions and how lecturers do consultancy with the time they are paid to lecture students then turn around to ask that these students come to class at very odd times of the day: at dawn and or deep into the night. A PROGRESSIVE WAY OUT As progressive Muslims, a blanket call for an end to Saturday classes isn�t the way to go as is not the use of force to get children to abandon classes for makaranta, in fact the latter would mean double jeopardy for the young Muslim who is left wandering psychologically and wondering what step to take. How do we help young Muslims I guess is a question to ask: get them at a very young age to appreciate the need for attending makaranta and as best as possible do this conscientization effort with parents who stand as major power brokers in which path a child eventually treks relative to the above topic. When push comes to shove either of these options should come to play: that they attend Islamic school subsequent to which they would be given school lessons on particular subject areas they were most likely to have missed. The reverse case is possible, that they go to school and are back just in time to be taught their Islamic lessons, this ultimately means one thing; sacrifice on the part of the students especially, parents and we Islamic school teachers. After all it is only for the greater good that we all make sacrifices. As Muslim students (myself included) trudge along the academic path, we are faced with way too many hurdles, some to be scaled at personal levels, others with parental help and several others with the communal and religious strength: a typical case in point is the Saturday Classes dilemma, which has left us with none but a strategic outlook to the issue. TANGENTIAL ISSUES & CONCLUSION Whatever stops Muslims from calling for Friday school if not scrapped to be cut at least to a half day in order to afford young Muslims the opportunity to honour their weekly Jum�ah salat; remains a mystery to some of us. We are better-off as Muslims heeding the admonishment of the Almighty, when he said in the Qur�an that we should hold on fast to his rope and not to disunite, like the many other issues whose answers have eluded Muslims in Ghana, therein unity lies that answer. To quote the word of Hajj Zagoon-Sayeed Haruna in his book; A Case of Social Re-engineering for the Ghanaian Muslim Youth, �The worst enemy that confronts the Ghanaian Muslim Ummah today is disunity, and the most wanted commodity for the community is unity. Islam is unity and unity is Islam.� page 49. Very well said and right on point by the very learned sheikh, whose book is a must read and is up for a review after we have concluded what is an interesting piece of literature by all standards. May Allah bless efforts of Muslims the world over at expanding the frontiers of this great faith. Thanks for taking time to read through our (Confidence Muslim Youth Association) thoughts and we look forward feverishly to sharing a discourse platform either via email on facebook or any such platforms.