Adamu Adamu, Minister of Education, has directed the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) to make the Christian Religious Knowledge (CRK) and Islamic Religious Knowledge (IRK) distinctive subjects in the basic education curriculum. 

Adamu said the directive to separate the subjects became imperative in view of the various complaints by Nigerians, especially the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN).

“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,” he said.

“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.”

He spoke in Abuja on Thursday through Anthony Anwukah, Minister of State for Education, at the meeting of ministers of education with education stakeholders from six geo-political zones and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Adamu noted that the collapsed of the subjects was not done by the current administration, as it was an effort by the last administration of President Goodluck Jonathan to reduce the number of subjects offered by pupils and students in schools.

The two subjects, which were subsumed under the Civil Education in the current curriculum by the council, had been a subject controversy.

The meeting attended by the 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).

The minister noted Nigeria had selected the Goal 4 of the SDGs, which emphasises 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.

Reiterating the commitment of the Federal Government to revamping the education sector, he appealed to the state governments and relevant stakeholders to support government’s efforts.

“We recognise 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,” he said.

“It is our belief 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 realise our vision of providing quality education to build and sustain adequate human capital for national development.”