FG orders immediate separation of CRK, IRK in new curriculum

The Federal Government on Thursday bowed to pressure and
directed the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council
(NERDC) to separate the Christian Religious Knowledge and Islamic
Religious Knowledge subjects in the basic education curriculum.

The grouping of IRK and CRK under the Civil Education in the new
curriculum by the NERDC had generated controversy in the last few
months with religious leaders calling for their separate
teaching.

Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, gave the directive at a
meeting of Ministers of Education with education stakeholders from
six geo-political zones and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in
Abuja on Thursday.

The meeting, which was attended by Commissioners for Education
from various States of the Federation, was part of the ongoing
efforts to strengthen the partnership within the three tiers of
government in the implementation of the Sustainable Development
Goals 4 (SDG4).

Adamu, who was represented by Minister of State for Education,
Anthony Anwukah, said the directive to separate the subjects became
necessary because of the various complaints by Nigerians,
especially the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) that has been
vociferous about the issue.

He explained that the collapse of the two subjects was done by
former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration to reduce the
number of subjects offered by pupils and students in schools.

The minister said: “There is this controversy over the merger of
CRK and IRK in the school curriculum. There were complaints by
parents that children were overloaded with so many subjects and the
recommendation then was to merge one or two subjects.
Unfortunately, water and oil were merged together and it is not
working.

“So, to save ourselves the agony, the two subjects should be
separated. We push that to the NERDC,”

Adamu, in his address, reiterated the commitment of the Federal
Government to revamping the education sector and appealed to state
governments as well as relevant stakeholders to support the federal
government effort.

He also expressed the commitment of the government towards
achieving the SDG4 by 2030 in line with the global timeline.

The minister said Nigeria has selected the Goal 4 of the SDGs,
which emphasizes inclusive and quality education for all and
promotion of lifelong learning, for implementation in view of the
importance of education as a fulcrum to national development.

He said the federal government was aware that in the journey
towards achieving the Education 2030 Agenda, key issues including
the phenomenon of out-of-school children, insecurity in and around
the schools and infrastructure decay must be addressed.

The minister said there was also the need to have credible and
reliable data, and how to address the challenge of poor teacher
quality as well as teacher gaps, low carrying capacity in tertiary
institutions, and poor learning outcomes.

“We recognize that the task of revamping the education sector is
challenging, the ministry of education cannot do it alone. Our task
is to coordinate national efforts to meet our national goals and
objectives.

“It is our believe that with good planning, appropriate
investment of resources, transparency, due process, effective
collaboration and coordination of inputs and activities of
government and that of all stakeholders, we will realize our vision
of providing quality education to build and sustain adequate human
capital for national development,” the minister added.

The Federal Government on Thursday bowed to pressure and
directed the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council
(NERDC) to separate the Christian Religious Knowledge and Islamic
Religious Knowledge subjects in the basic education
curriculum.

The grouping of IRK and CRK under the Civil Education in the new
curriculum by the NERDC had generated controversy in the last few
months with religious leaders calling for their separate
teaching.

Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, gave the directive at a
meeting of Ministers of Education with education stakeholders from
six geo-political zones and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in
Abuja on Thursday.

The meeting, which was attended by Commissioners for Education
from various States of the Federation, was part of the ongoing
efforts to strengthen the partnership within the three tiers of
government in the implementation of the Sustainable Development
Goals 4 (SDG4).

Adamu, who was represented by Minister of State for Education,
Anthony Anwukah, said the directive to separate the subjects became
necessary because of the various complaints by Nigerians,
especially the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) that has been
vociferous about the issue.

He explained that the collapse of the two subjects was done by
former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration to reduce the
number of subjects offered by pupils and students in schools.

The minister said: “There is this controversy over the merger of
CRK and IRK in the school curriculum. There were complaints by
parents that children were overloaded with so many subjects and the
recommendation then was to merge one or two subjects.
Unfortunately, water and oil were merged together and it is not
working.

“So, to save ourselves the agony, the two subjects should be
separated. We push that to the NERDC,”

Adamu, in his address, reiterated the commitment of the Federal
Government to revamping the education sector and appealed to state
governments as well as relevant stakeholders to support the federal
government effort.

He also expressed the commitment of the government towards
achieving the SDG4 by 2030 in line with the global timeline.

The minister said Nigeria has selected the Goal 4 of the SDGs,
which emphasizes inclusive and quality education for all and
promotion of lifelong learning, for implementation in view of the
importance of education as a fulcrum to national development.

He said the federal government was aware that in the journey
towards achieving the Education 2030 Agenda, key issues including
the phenomenon of out-of-school children, insecurity in and around
the schools and infrastructure decay must be addressed.

The minister said there was also the need to have credible and
reliable data, and how to address the challenge of poor teacher
quality as well as teacher gaps, low carrying capacity in tertiary
institutions, and poor learning outcomes.

“We recognize that the task of revamping the education sector is
challenging, the ministry of education cannot do it alone. Our task
is to coordinate national efforts to meet our national goals and
objectives.

“It is our believe that with good planning, appropriate
investment of resources, transparency, due process, effective
collaboration and coordination of inputs and activities of
government and that of all stakeholders, we will realize our vision
of providing quality education to build and sustain adequate human
capital for national development,” the minister added.