RELIGIOUS EDUCATION IN NIGERIAN SECONDARY SCHOOLS: POLICY, PRACTICE AND MANAGEMENT IMPLICATIONS

Abstract

This paper examines policy, practice and management implications of religious education in Nigerian secondary schools. Religious education is categorized, in the National Policy on Education, as an optional subject. Its teaching and learning are inadequate in the junior and senior classes of secondary schools. This could have Jed to deficiency in moral knowledge of the graduates of our educational institutions, which makes them engage in different forms of corrupt practices in their professional and social lives. As government's efforts to stamp out corruption are yet to yield desired results, if is suggested that the policy on religious education should be revisited. Specifically, it is recommended that religious education should be made a core subject in. junior and senior secondary schools. It is also recommended that competent teachers should be employed for the subject in all secondary schools, and that Arabic language should be given more attention in the schools in order to make the teaching and learning of Islamic Studies more effective. Finally, moral aspects of religious education should be included in the general studies courses of tertiary institutions.