₦airaland Forum

*THE SCOURGE OF FAKE NEWS: NIGERIA SCHOOL CURRICULUM*

Fake news is a current global scourge. It thrives on people's laziness to investigate and establish the veracity of what is published. Africans, and certainly Nigerians are known to be poor explorers - it is so much easier to simply believe and propagate what we are told rather than what we have found out ourselves.

In Nigeria, there are people who constantly create and churn out fake news to create tension in the country. Much of such news are politically motivated - to create the impression that we are in an unworkable country. One of such news is actually about 2 years old, but has recently been revived. It is the story that the Nigerian government has removed Christian Religious Studies from the curriculum of our schools. Even a very popular pastor made it a sermon issue, pronouncing curses on the government.

I decided to explore the veracity of this allegation. I only needed to go to the website of NERDC - Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council.

Here is the link that states the NERDC-approved curriculum for schools:
http://www.nerdc.org.ng/eCurriculum/CurriculumSTructure.aspx

Note especially that under "Religion and National Values (NRV)", it lists the content as follows:

i) Listed components will serve as themes in the Religion and National Values Curriculum
ii) Contents are planned for all children to take Social Studies, Civic Education and Security Education themes
iii) *Separate classes should be run for CRS theme and IS theme*
iv) Consumer Education, Disaster Risk Reduction Education and Peace and Conflict Resolution curricula are infused into the Civic Education, Social Studies and Security Education Themes.
v) Create enabling environment for the subject in all schools

Note especially that it states that separate classes should be run for Christian Religious Studies (CRS) and Islamic Studies (IS).
So, where is the basis of the allegation which is now being widely circulated?

My appeal to us is to be aware that deliberate fake news abound, and to do some due diligence on our own.

Unfortunately Nairaland has hardly pushed any thread clearing up the confusion. It seems to enjoy celebrating the words of criminals and dopey people.

vedaxcool:
Unfortunately Nairaland has hardly pushed any thread clearing up the confusion. It seems to enjoy celebrating the words of criminals and dopey people.

God bless

I think the problem is not with religion and national values. But with the last optional subject.

The truth is that to complete your subjects, you must either choose Arabic studies or French. Christians think it is a slide because Arabic is related to Islam and can be thought by any Muslim scholar. While French has very limited teachers. So, students will be left with no choice than to sturdy Arabic.

It would have been better if more foreign languages are added to the option. This way, students who don't want to sturdy Arabic will have wider options.

udumosam23:
I think the problem is not with religion and national values. But with the last optional subject.

The truth is that to complete your subjects, you must either choose Arabic studies or French. Christians think it is a slide because Arabic is related to Islam and can be thought by any Muslim scholar. While French has very limited teachers. So, students will be left with no choice than to sturdy Arabic.

It would have been better if more foreign languages are added to the option. This way, students who don't want to sturdy Arabic will have wider options.

why Arabic? Dont we have other languages like latin,Japanese, Chinese

Its said optional. Kai my pepo wet in una want.

Am happy this issue has been finally resolved. Nigerians (majority) don't verify a story/news they just start ranting and crying foul while in reality the fowl is in its cage. Nigerians shout God God but lack Goodness.