CAN writes Saraki, expresses fears, worries over new syllabus

The leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria has sent a letter to the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki on the new education curriculum.

The letter titled: ‘Request for audience with the national leadership of CAN on the new national education curriculum' was obtained by Punch Correspondent and was meant to notify the Senate president about observations, fears and worries of the Christian Association of Nigeria on the current nine-year basic education curriculum.

According to the General Secretary of CAN, Dr Musa Asake, the new curriculum is obnoxious, offensive and provocative.

Asake said the curriculum joined together five distinctive subjects – CRS, Islamic Religious Studies, Social Studies, Civic Education and Security Education into one omnibus subject called Religion and National Values.

“More worrisome to us is the observed contents of the curriculum and its approved textbooks that impudently denigrate the personality of the founder of the Christian faith. For example the foundational truth of the Christian faith such as the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is denied and the denial is meant to be inculcated in innocent minors.

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“As if this obvious damage is not enough, the subject is made compulsory whereby a student must do either of the two religious subjects as component parts of the whole subject if he or she must pass the subject in national examination. We note that this compulsion is happening in a situation where state ministries of education are not hiring teachers of a particular religion they are not favourably disposed to.

“The result is that the students are being forced to do the available, contrary to their faith. There are already reported cases of torture of students who refused to do the available that is contrary to their faith.”

The Christian Association of Nigeria had earlier kicked against the new curriculum based on the rumour that CRK had been removed from basic education curriculum.

However, the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC), Prof. Ismail Junaid later explained that the subject was not removed but grouped under the Religion and National Values Curriculum.