THE NECESSITY OF CHRISTIAN RELIGIOUS EDUCATION IN NIGERIAN SECONDARY SCHOOLS AS A FOUNDATION FOR GOOD GOVERNANCE AND POLITICAL STABILITY

Abstract

This paper examined the necessity of Christian Religious Education in
Nigerian secondary schools. Christian education is a foundational
knowledge for Christian children and the spiritual and moral teachings
in Christian education prepare children for good governance, sound
society and political stability. From the history of Israel, Christian
Education was a process in which religious knowledge; skills and set of
values were passed down from one generation to another in the
informal setting. This was how learning of religious norms and values
were done in the family and between groups even before the
introduction of formal education in schools in Israel. This was done to
produce the foundation and the success of Christian community among
the people of Israel depending on the size, number of people and factors
among the Judeo-Christian era. Good governance and political stability
do not emerge from the blues. It has to start from a solid foundation
through the God-given agents of transformation here on earth. It
happened in the times of Old and New Testament, so it is happening in
our contemporary communities today. Christian education in Nigerian
secondary schools provides the common-good focus on moral
responsibility, peaceful co-existence and national development. This
study further recommends that Christian education is the interactive
construction of moral knowledge in the students’ class room and social
settings. The discourse finally positioned Christian Religious Education
as God’s ordained tool for the foundation for good governance and
political stability as it also provides quality assurance. The paper opined
that substandard work force is detrimental to national transformation,
growth and development. Hence, there is the need to reform the
curriculum and the teaching of Christian education with a view to
meeting the needs of young people living in an era of corruption,
stealing, kidnapping religious crisis and globalization