CAN And The CRK Fuss 

If the merger of Christian Religious Knowledge, Arabic/Islamic Studies, social studies and civic education into a single subject is not squelched, it may be an additional source of altercations in the polity. The hard-nosed position of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, on the matter portends that.
The CAN President, Rev. Dr. Sampson Ayokunle, of late spoke extensively on the Association’s stand on the issue and asked both the Federal Ministry of Education and the Nigeria Educational Research and Development Council, NERDC, to orchestrate their stands on the situation instantaneously.
CAN’s contention is that if the proposed curriculum is realized, CRK and IRS will no longer be studied as separate subjects but as themes under a subject known as civic education.
The Association thinks that the development will greatly enfeeble the moral values both subjects had relinquished in students. It further presumes that the new curriculum is divisive and capable of inflaming passions in the country.
However, authorities of the Federal Ministry of Education denied the allegations of scrapping the subjects in question. Clarifying the Ministry’s position on the issue, its secretary, Mrs Chinyere Ihuoma, stated that the Ministry had only designed a new subject which comprised IRS, CRK, civic education and social studies to be known as religion and national values.
Conversely, the Executive Secretary of NERDC, Prof. Ismail Junaidu, in a subsequent explanation, said that CRK was still taught in schools as a distinct subject. He averred that the affected subjects (social studies, CRK, IRS, security education and civic education) were still taught as discrete subjects under the Religion and National Values Curriculum.
The intricate explanations of the Federal Ministry and the NERDC are unnecessary paradox of the issues. Beside the discrepancies in their accounts, CRK and IRS have always been isolated subjects in our secondary schools and should remain so. Any attempt to coalesce them into a single subject will overbear their essence.
I add my voice to the call by the CAN President for the  agencies to symphonise their viewpoints on the matter. What we need to know from them is whether religion and national values is a subject, which has CRK and IRS as themes, according to Ihuoma, or it is an all-inclusive name for a group of subjects which includes CRK and IRS, in line with NERDC’s standpoint?
The best way to disentangle the embarrassment, in my estimation, is to publish the whole content of the curriculum for all Nigerians to descry the reasons for the merger and come to decision on it. This will acquit the air on the little nubs or in the alternative retain the seemingly impaired curriculum.
This country is known for trifling with education policies without results. How many education policies have we introduced and experimented without success? For goodness sake, the customary 180 degree turns are ripping off our education. Even now, there is no guarantee that this particular one will work?
The federal government shouldn’t galvanize disputes and create unnecessary unease. They must ambulate softly on problems that border on religion and ethnicity and learn to consult comprehensively before reaching a decision
The government obviously blundered for failing to take CAN along and the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (SCIA), both of which are vehemently opposed to the policy. Furthermore, I am yet to see what benefactions the plan will serve over and above the old syllabus.
If the curriculum needs a review, such re-appraisal should be done by the states since education is on the concurrent list. Even then, the type of re-evaluation we need is the one that will advance human capital for sustainable development
For instance, if any national review of the curriculum is to be kick-started, such inquiry should reflect emphasis on the resuscitation of “History” as a subject. The implications of dispensing with “History” in the primary and post primary school syllabuses have been devastating to national identity and memories.
Civic education too should be expanded to reflect the current realities within and outside the country. It has to go beyond the usual current affairs to reflect teaching of ethics, etiquette, civic responsibility of individuals, respect and obedience to elders as enshrined in African values.
Since government has started on a wrong premise, it should suspend the new curriculum and initiate a process that will lead to a new program of studies which will reflect Nigeria’s needs, diversity and culture.

Arnold Alalibo