Religious Studies Curriculum: CAN faults Education Minister’s defence, reveals fresh facts, demands details of education curriculum

The Christian Association Nigeria (CAN) has called on the Federal Ministry of Education and the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) to publish the full details of the controversial new Curriculum of Education if they have no hidden agenda. 
Speaking through its President, Rev Samson Ayokunle, the umbrella body of all Christians in the country foresaw the danger ahead if the curriculum that merged Christian Religious Knowledge and Islamic Religious Knowledge with the Civic Education is made to stay. 
It also disclosed some perceived discriminations against Christian students in the curriculum.    
Said Ayokunle: “In this curriculum, Islamic and Christian Religious Studies will no longer be studied in schools as subjects on their own but as themes in a civic education. This undermines the sound moral values that these two subjects had imparted in the past to our children which had made us to religiously and ethnically co-exist without any tension. 
“Islamic Religious Knowledge was equally made available as a subject in another section without any corresponding availability of  Christian Religious Knowledge. Is this not a divisive curriculum that can set the nation on fire? Is this fair to millions of Christians in this nation?”
To buttress his point, the CAN President cited a case in Kwara State where a student was punished for refusing to register for Islamic Religious Knowledge. 
“A Christian student in a secondary school in Kwara State had his body lacerated with cane by the Arabic Teacher because the pupil refused to study Islamic Religious Knowledge when French Teacher was not available and Christian Religious Knowledge, Hebrew or Greek were not part of the options at all.” 
But in a swift reaction, the Federal Ministry of Education debunked our claims that Christian Religious Knowledge (CRK) had been removed as a subject of study from the secondary school curriculum and Islamic Religious Studies reintroduced. 
According to the Director of Press, Federal Ministry of Education, Mrs. Chinenye Ihuoma, the ministry has only designed a new subject which merged Civic Education, IRS, CRK and Social Studies into “Religion and National Values”. 
According to her,  “The alternation is not from the minister, this is purely from the National Council on Education. It is just as the council has said that History should be a subject of its own at the basic level in the first nine years. 
“Now, a new subject has been introduced, called Religion and National Values. It is a fusion of religion and civics. I have not seen the details but in a case where you have subject combinations in the same period, everyone will attend lectures that correspond with their own religion.
“Arabic and Islamic Studies are not standing alone. Islamic Religious Study and Christian Religious Study as well as national values will be taught under a new subject,’’ she said. 
The Executive Secretary of NERDC,  Professor Ismail Junaidu, contradicted the position of the Ministry.
“CRK is still taught in schools as a separate distinct subject with the accompanying Teachers’ Guide. CRK is not a theme in Civic Education. Civic Education is a distinct subject on its own which teaches the rudiments of good citizenship.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the last review of the curriculum was approved in 2013 and implementation commenced in September, 2014. In both instances, neither the Christian Religious Knowledge nor Islamic Studies was removed from the curriculum. 
“In fact, at the commencement of the present administration, the Hon. Minister of Education sought and obtained the approval of the National Council on Education to make Christian Religious Knowledge compulsory for all Christians students and Islamic Studies compulsory for their Muslim counterparts. 
“Efforts are in top gear to print the Christian Religious Knowledge and Islamic Studies Curriculum separately in order to maintain their characteristics and distinctiveness. 
“In this Curriculum, no child should be coerced or compelled to learn or be taught in school any religious studies subject  but only one (out of the two) that restrictively relates to the belief system professed by the child and his/her parents.” 
But, CAN, in a statement, demanded:
1. The implementation of the curriculum must be suspended till a workshop is organized where all the stakeholders must be well represented. 
2. The Presidency should direct the Federal Ministry of Education to publish the full details of the curriculum on its website to enable everyone know what it contains. 
3. There was nothing wrong with the old curriculum on Christian Religious Studies and Islamic Religious Studies. What people are yearning for is a return to Civic Education and History for obvious reasons as distinct subjects. 
4. That the heads of the parastatals and agencies in the Federal Ministry of Education should be overhauled with a view to balancing the religious dichotomy. A situation where 13 of their heads are Muslims while the remaining four are Christians is an ill-wind that would blow no one any good. 
5. We urge the Presidency to call for a meeting of all stake holders to look at this curriculum line by line and for all of us to own it together before implementation. 
If our call is taken as for granted and nothing is done quickly about this curriculum, we may be tempted to take further action on this curriculum.