CRK is compulsory for all Christian students

Nigeria’s federal government says Christian Religious Knowledge (CRK) is compulsory for all Christian students, and Islamic Religious Studies (IRS) for their Muslim counterparts.

The Ministers of Education, Adamu Adamu, said this during a press briefing at the end of the FEC meeting presided over by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, The Cable reports.

“I read in the papers that they asked the acting president to confirm if the report that CRK had been removed from the curriculum is true,” he said.

“There is no truth in that at all. It was just somebody’s imagination probably somebody who wanted 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 stoke the embers of religion. There is no truth whatsoever in that. I repeat, no truth in it.

“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 agreed that the teaching and learning of CRK has been made compulsory for all Christians 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? You to be more responsible in handling the issues especially at this time in history.”