From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, has requested for commendation from Nigerians and not castigation for restoring sanity in the nine-year basic education curriculum for teaching and learning in Nigerian schools.
The minister’s request came against the barrage of criticism and allegations of him being responsible for the merging of Christian Religious Knowledge (CRK) and Islamic Religion Knowledge (CRK) into one subject, Religious and National Values.
The development attracted condemnation from the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and other stakeholders, resulting in the recent directive by the Presidency to the Minister of Education to reverse the policy.
The minister, while addressing education stakeholders at the 62nd National Council on Education in Kano last week, exonerated himself from anything that has to do with the revised basic education curriculum.
He said: “People have accused me of trying to Islamise Nigeria through the curriculum but they were quick to forget that I was nowhere close to the Ministry of Education then. For the record, the chairman of the committee that drafted the curriculum was the former Executive Secretary of the National Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC), Prof. Godswill Obioma, and it was endorsed by all members of the council.