Document Shows Only Islamic Religious Knowledge in School Curriculum

Ololade Adeyanju

The federal government may have either lied to Nigerians, or some state governments are brazenly defying its directive, on the reintroduction of Christian Religious Knowledge (CRK) into the Junior Secondary School curriculum.

Following strong protests by Christians groups, spearheaded by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), the federal government was forced to debunk widespread reports that CRK had been expunged from the curriculum and merged with another subject, Religion and National Values, while it continued to retain Islamic Religious Knowledge (IRK).

The minister of education, Adamu Adamu, told journalists, last Wednesday, at the end of the Federal Executive Council meeting, in Abuja, it was the immediate past administration that introduced the policy, which scrapped both CRK and IRK and merged them with Religion and National Values.

He said the current administration had reversed the policy and reinstated both subjects in the curriculum and also made them compulsory for students of the respective religions in junior high school.

But, a Kwara State government official document obtained by Newsmakers, basic education certificate examination (BECE) 2017 timetable, sent to schools in the state for the examination coming up in July, featured only IRK as one of the subjects on offer.

Other subjects featured in the timetable, which was issued by the state’s ministry of education and human capital development, include, Arabic CAIS, Arabic JIS, Islamic History and Religion and National Values. There was nowhere CRK was listed in the timetable.

The document was signed by one Alh. Sabi Ibrahim, on behalf of the commissioner for education.

Officials of both the state and the federal ministry of education could not be immediately reached for comment.

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