Furore over revised basic education curriculum

NERDC allays fear, explains motive
Despite its alleged inherent benefits , the decision by the Federal Ministry of Education to reduce the workload of students at the basic education level, from 20 to a maximum of 10 subjects, under the extant nine-year basic educational curriculum, has been greeted with diverse reactions.

In the new system developed by the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC), and intended to be in tandem with international models, Christian Religious Studies (CRS) and Islamic Religious Studies (IRS), which were hitherto taught separately, are now merged under Religion and National Values (RNV), which also embodies subjects like Civic Education, Social Studies, and Security Education.

Since this development came to light, adherents of the two major religions in the country, with some fuming parents, have expressed immense religious sentiments while public commentators are not giving up on their calls for the government to retrace its steps.

But for the Nigeria Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC), no student at this level of education would be compelled to take an admixture of CRK and IRS.

That notwithstanding, religious leaders and other Nigerians are skeptical and have continued to pound government for contemplating the combination for the young minds. Most schools have ignored the curriculum, because teachers are not available to teach aspects dealing with themes like security education.

Executive Secretary of NERDC, Prof. Ismail Junaid, however, told The Guardian in Abuja that each of the two religious subjects were designed to be handled by a separate teacher, even as he blamed the accompanying fuss on the activities of ignorant, and sometimes, greedy publishers.

“In all, we have not changed the contents; the contents are intact, I wouldn’t like to use the word merged, because when you call it merging, it would look like you are taking them as one. As far as the listing is concerned, they (CRS and IRS) are standing as distinct courses, but merged under one subject listing. In each of these, we made provisions for periods to be set aside for teaching CRS, we had periods set aside for IRS, and we have periods set aside for teaching Social Studies…When we developed the curriculum, we also developed the teachers’ guide; each of these teachers’ guides is separate.”

On claims that the new curriculum was part of President Muhammadu Buhari’s ploy to Islamise the country, he said that the curriculum was reviewed under the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan.
“This curriculum has been in existence since 2012. Where was Buhari then? It started operating effectively in 2014 and the president at that time was President Goodluck Jonathan. I wasn’t even the head of the NERDC then, it was Prof. Goodswill Obioma, who is a Christian. Buhari only came into power last year, he doesn’t know anything about the curriculum,” he added.

In the preface to the manual explaining the new curriculum, Obioma, gave a historical perspective and the raison d’être for the controversial curriculum. That was written in October 2010, and Jonathan had convened a national stakeholders forum to deliberate on the state of education in Nigeria, where delegates called for an immediate action to reduce the number of subjects offered at the basic education level to between six and 13 .

The NERDC was subsequently directed to review the nine-year BEC in line with the recommendations of the summit, reflecting at every point global best practices and contemporary national concerns.

“The curriculum revision process involved consultations with stakeholders (curriculum experts, subject matter specialists, teachers, policy makers, employers of labour, parents, etc) in education at various levels (concept formulation, high level policy committee ,HLPC, etc) to prepare a conceptual framework for the review of the 9-year BEC. The framework identifies and groups related disciplines, thereby achieving a reduction in subject listings.

“For example, related UBE subjects curricula like Home Economic, Agriculture, are brought together to create a new Universal Basic Education (UBE) subject curriculum to be called Pre-Vocational Studies. Similarly, IRS, CRS Social Studies, Civil Education, etc that focus primarily on the inculcation of values (societal, moral, interpersonal) now form a new UBE subject called Religious and Value Education….” he wrote

Junaidu in further debunking suggestions that the exercise was a ploy to Islamise Nigeria, said: “Come to think of it, if you are saying that these subjects are being taught as one, are you saying the Muslims wouldn’t also be converted to Christianity? How would it be that you Islamise and not Christianise the Muslims? The wrong impression they are giving is as if we are starting it new . Like I told you, it started in 2012.”

The executive secretary blamed some publishers, who published the contents of the five subjects under Religion and National Values in the nine-year basic education curriculum in one book.

“What brought the confusion was in the textbooks. Some publishers produced one book covering Islamic Studies, Christian Religious Studies, Social Studies and Security. Of course, you can understand how concerned a parent would be over the blunder of those greedy publishers or publishers who are not sensitive. If I was a Muslim, I wouldn’t like my child to bring such a book into my house, if I was a Christian, I wouldn’t like my child to come with Arabic inscriptions,” said Junaid.

He continued: “We guided these publishers on what to write; we made it clear to them that each of the subject listings should be distinct, with each having its own book. Come to think of it, if you try to bring all in one book, how can a child in primary one be able to assimilate it? How can a child be able to even carry that book? There is no way a teacher can now be teaching these together.”

Junaid, who said NERDC was working with state governments to discourage the circulation of the wrong copies, added that schools must comply with the strict instruction not to force any religious subject on students.

“Any book that is to be used in schools should come to NERDC for quality assurance, we do not have anything to do with any book that we do not approve. You cannot stop anybody from publishing anything, but the user should be careful in knowing how to use the book. We will write to the state governments to alert them not to accept any book that contains this kind of things.”

A copy of the curriculum for primary one to three seen by The Guardian shows that pupils would be taught about Jesus Christ and Prophet Mohammed. They will also be taught Arabic and about major chapters of the Holy Qur’an.

These not withstanding, religious leaders continue to kick against the introduction of the curriculum, warning that it would create serious confusion and problems not only for the education sector, but also for the pupils.
Primate of All Nigeria (Anglican Communion), Most Nicholas Okoh, told The Guardian that religion is a very sensitive issue, adding that there is no need to mix Islam with Christianity.

He said:” They have no right to do it. They should consult widely, there is no need to mix Islam and Christianity, and they should not cause avoidable problems because they are trying to confuse young people. We recognise our differences, but we call for unity in the country. Let Muslims be Muslims and let Christians be Christians…”

For the Secretary General, Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), Rev. Fr. Ralph Madu, “Every right-thinking Nigerian knows that religion is a very sensitive issue in this country. We have all sorts of divides, tribal divides, political divides, but the religious one is not helping us. Some fanatics are using it for political and personal gains. It is something that we should not allow, in the sense that it will create more confusion. Bringing that kind of curriculum for children is not the best. After all, there are adult Christians who studied Islam, there are also adult Muslims who studied Christianity just to know more. At that level they were able to differentiate their left from their right, they can even separate contents, but for children who at that level internalise everything, it will not augur well. Rather, it would create more confusion for them”.

He added: “There is the need to keep the subjects the way they are, keeping them under one subject is not the best of approach. Is it the same teacher that will teach the Christian aspect that would teach the Islamic aspect or is it that the Islamic teacher will also go and be expert in Christianity or two of them will be teaching the subject with each person concentrating on his own? These are things that can generate both confusion and trouble. So what we are saying is that they should revert to status quo ante, they should leave the subjects the way they are”.

According to him, the education authorities can improve on citizenship and civic education. “What they should include in teaching of civic responsibility is tolerance. There should be more appreciation of each other irrespective of religion. When you are trying to teach a child two languages at the same time, it confuses them, the important question to ask is what is the intention of whoever is bringing up this type of curriculum so that the person can be directed. Let us presume the person has good intention but the way he is going about it will not be to the benefit of the children. You don’t use children to try that. It is unacceptable. When you are coming up with this type of policy, you throw it out and listen to the sentiments of people, it should be reverted to what it was before. People are complaining about the falling standard of education in the country, they should find out the reasons for that than confusing people and creating more problems.”

National Chief Imam, Al-habibiyyah Mosque, Abuja, Ustaaz Fuad Adeyemi, is of the view that the new curriculum was a strange policy that would remove the citizens’ identity as Nigerians and urged government to drop the idea and allow the subjects to remain the way they were.

He said: “The Pew Research Foundation in the U.S. said that the most religious people on earth are Nigerians. Why can’t we sell this to the world and teach the world how unique religion can be? Nigeria is the only country in the world where you have almost equal number of Christians and Muslims, yet there is no problem. Why don’t we sell that to the world, than trying to mix left and right together? It is a strange policy that will remove our identity as Nigerians. Government should drop the idea and allow the subjects to remain the way they are, and go ahead to promote civic education. It should promote CRS to the level that it becomes a national pride and also promote IRS to the level that it becomes a national pride, the same with traditional religion. When they are all taught in a positive way, we will get to meet at a place where we become a model to the entire world.”

At the Federal Ministry of Education, the Deputy Director (Press) of the ministry, Mr. Bem Goong, said that such a policy was not in existence.

He explained : “If there were to be such a policy, there is always a procedure and we have not seen any of that in this ministry. NERDC is in position to answer to such issues, don’t make us NERDC.’’

For National President, Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Mr. Micheal Olukoya, “Whatever nomenclature they give to it… I have always been an advocate of bringing back what was regarded as civic education of the past, because the majority of our children these days are detached from the actual reality of issues in Nigeria today.

“We have always at every forum advocated that there should be a subject that will change the orientation of the Nigerian child. Let us begin to have national cohesion.’’

Olukoya, who said the union was carried along when the curriculum was reviewed, added, “We collaborated with the Federal Ministry of Education and other education agencies. Our major concern as stakeholders in the education sector is the end result of every policy.

“We are only concerned with how advantageous such a policy could be to the positive behavior of the Nigerian children and the future of education in this country…”

Investigations by The Guardian revealed that the new curriculum, which was introduced in 2014, was yet to become fully operational in both private and public schools across the country.