The
Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, has accused the Nigerian government of
inserting a controversial topic in the new school curriculum, which questions
whether Jesus Christ is the son of God.
The association said the topic in the new
subject, Civic Education, was “satanic”.
The comment came amid allegations by the body
that the government was trying to delist Christian Religious Studies from the
school curriculum, while retaining the Islamic Religious Knowledge.
The government has denied the allegation.
But apparently not satisfied by clarifications
by the government, CAN has demanded a return to the old basic education
curriculum with respect to religious studies.
The association had last week alleged that
Christian Religious Knowledge,CRK, was dropped in the revised curriculum while
Islamic Religious Knowledge, IRK, was retained as part of an alleged plot to
drag Nigeria under the crescent of Islam.
But the acting Executive Secretary of Nigerian
Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC), Kate Nwufo, denied the
claims and explained how the new curriculum was developed by government and
various stakeholders, including Christian representatives, in 2012.
Expressing its dissatisfaction with the
clarifications, CAN insisted that the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, was
bent on imposing Islamic hegemony through the new curriculum.
Mr.
Ayokunle, in a statement on Thursday, challenged the Ministry to publish the
new curriculum on CRK, even as he claimed that it has taken off in Kwara State
without provision for CRK.
He also accused Mr. Adamu of imposing Muslims
as heads of all federal boards in his ministry.
“If the two religious studies are being taught
separately, why is the agency stating that “efforts are in top gear to print
the Christian Religious Knowledge and Islamic Studies curriculum separately in
order to maintain their characteristics and distinctiveness?” Mr. Ayokunle
asked.
According to him, the agency’s statement
underscored the association’s position that the subjects were merged before.
“Do we need to run away from underscoring the
importance of these two subjects, which focus on teaching the fear of God, love
for others and so on at a time when our nation is facing the challenge of
violence and breakup?” Mr. Ayokunle explained.
“If the new curriculum is treating the two
religious subjects separately as being claimed, why do we have a satanic topic
in the Civic Education: ‘IS JESUS THE SON OF GOD’?
“Or is the Acting President, Prof Yemi
Osinbajo, who disclosed to CAN leadership that this was in the curriculum he
earlier saw, lying too?”
He also disputed the agency’s claim that no
student will be forced to register for a religion against his/her wish.
“In Kwara State, for example, the
discriminatory curriculum has begun and Christian students who refused to
register for it already had their bodies lacerated with cane. We have the names
of the victims and their schools with us, including the text message from the
parents of such students who were beaten.”
Similarly,Mr Ayokunle explained that the
Chairman of CAN in Delta State had complained that students were calling him
that their teachers were saying that they would no longer be doing CRK as a
subject.
“As far as CAN is concerned, the curriculum is
a time-bomb, obnoxious, divisive and ungodly and its implementation must be
stopped until all the grey areas are added,” Mr. Ayokunle stated.
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