Minister of Education, Mr Adamu Adamu, has instructed Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council to make the Christian Religious Knowledge and the Islamic Religious Knowledge distinctive subjects in the basic education curriculum.

The minister gave this directive on Thursday in Abuja during his meeting with stakeholders from the six geo-political zones and Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

The two subjects had hitherto been joined with Civil Education under Religion and National Values in the current schools’ curriculum, a development that generated controversy in the last few months.

The meeting, which was also attended by commissioners for education in the 36 states, focused on the strengthening of partnership in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Speaking through Minister of State for Education, Prof. Anthony Anwukah, Adamu said the directive to separate the subjects became imperative in view of the various complaints by Nigerians, especially Christian Association of Nigeria.

The minister added that the joining of the subjects was not done by the current administration, as it was an effort by President Goodluck Jonathan government to reduce the number of subjects taken by pupils in schools.

Adamu said, “There is this controversy over the merger of CRK and IRK in the curriculum. There were complaints by parents earlier that children were overloaded with so many subjects and the recommendation then was to merge one or two subjects. 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 NERDC.”

Adamu, in his keynote address, reiterated the commitment of the Federal Government to revamping the education sector, while appealing to the state governments, as well as relevant stakeholders, to support the Federal Government’s effort.

Punch