Should core 'search' module be required?

The opigno_lms module has a dependency on the core 'search' module - but it looks to me that Opigno uses the contrib module search_api by default Why does opigno_lms list the core 'search' module as a dependency - and (after tweaking) is it OK for me to disable the core search module and that doing so would not affect the Opigno operations? I'm asking especially as the when the drupal search_api module has been enabled it explicitly says to disable the core search module. Having both at the same time does not make sense! Thanks.