IRS, CRK, compulsory for students – FG

By Abdullahi M. Gulloma
Abuja

The federal government has said that the Islamic Religious Studies (IRS) and the Christian Religious Knowledge (CRK) are compulsory for Muslim and Christians students respectively.
Addressing State House correspondents at the end of the weekly Federal Executive Council (NEC), Minister of Education, Mr. Adamu Adamu, said claims on social media and some national dailies that the two religious studies were removed from the education curriculum were false.

He said the Basic Education Curriculum which includes the Christian Religious Knowledge and Islamic Religious Studies Curricula was approved in 2013 by the National Council on Education, the apex policy-making body on education in the country.
“I will like to also address one issue which I will also throw back at you. You journalists, especially those of you on social media are not helping this nation by bandying things that are absolutely false.
The issue of Christian Religious Knowledge that all the national media, social media took up deceived even the leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria because they believed it.

“I read in the papers that they asked the acting president to confirm if the report is true. There is no truth in it at all. It was just somebody’s imagination probably somebody who wishes to raise tension in the country after the Biafra issue and then the quit order given by some young people in the north, so the person just followed suit trying to stoic the embers of religion. There is no truth whatsoever I repeat.
“Certainly there was a policy in 2012 which was given effect in 2014 that is even before this government came in. One of the things I did as minister was to speak to the national council on education to disarticulate history from the social studies curricula because we believe we want our young people to know our history.

“You cannot know who you are without knowing who your ancestors were in the past. And the national council of education did accept and agree that the teaching and learning of CRK has been made compulsory for all Christian students and teaching and learning of Islamic studies is compulsory for all Muslim students.
“So, you are actually accusing the ministry of the opposite of what it has done. I think I just need to tell you even if you are not the ones in the social media, they must be your compatriots, please tell them to be more responsible in handling the issues especially at this time in history.”

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