CHRISTIAN RELIGIOUS STUDIES STUDENTS LIFE STYLE AND TEACHING PRACTICE

1.1 Introduction

Christian Religious Studies (CRS) is one of the major subjects missionaries bequeathed to Nigerian education system on the establishment of schools by the 19th century missionaries. The aim was to train people who will be of immense help to the colonial trinity goals (God/Christianity, government/colonization and Gold/commerce). In other to achieve the above, the major curriculum contents of their educational system were Bible knowledge, Arithmetic and English language for communication. To implement fully the contents, adequate attention was given to the understanding of the place of God in man’s life (Nsongo, 2001). During the missionary era, bible knowledge otherwise known as CRS was the core subject. Subsequently, after independence, government took over schools; there was a clarion call for review of curriculum in 1983.

As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.

---

1.2 Background of Study

The high level of moral decadence and insurgencies in Nigerian nation is an indication that there is poor religious teaching in secondary school system. Christian religious studies (CRS) as one of the religious subjects taught in secondary school in Nigerian takes a central position in ensuring moral and spiritual wellbeing of individuals in the society. The key roles of CRS in equipping the individuals and ensuring high level of morality is made clear in the objectives of CRS at the senior secondary level which include; to provide more opportunities for Nigerian youths to learn more about god and thereby develop their faith in god; to enable the youths to accept Christ as their savior; to help the youths develop Christian attitude and moral values (such as humility, respect, love, and justice, etc.); to instill in the youth the spirit of tolerance , reconciliation ,peaceful co-existence and non-violence as well as to develop and foster in the youth the spirit of respect for all people and human life (Universal Basic Education Curriculum (UBA), (2013).

Christian Religious Studies (CRS) is one of the major subjects missionaries bequeathed to Nigerian education system on the establishment of schools by the 19th century missionaries. The aim was to train people who will be of immense help to the colonial trinity goals (God/Christianity, government/colonization and Gold/commerce). In other to achieve the above, the major curriculum contents of their educational system were Bible Studies, Arithmetic and English language for communication. To implement fully the contents, adequate attention was given to the understanding of the place of God in man’s life (Nsongo, 2011). During the missionary era, bible studies otherwise known as CRS were the core subject. Subsequently, after independence, government took over schools; there was a clarion call for review of curriculum in 1983. The call was as a result of criticisms leveled against colonial education, which some scholars viewed as being too arts oriented and as such lacked relevance to Nigeria upliftment, political emancipation and infrastructural development (Ocho, 2015). Ocho further explained that the situation led to the modification of the curriculum with greater emphasis on sciences and technological subjects.

The major aims of inclusion of CRS in the education curriculum is to raise generation of people who can think for themselves, respect the views and feelings of others, appreciate dignity of labour and those moral values specified in the broad national aims as good citizens. While at the secondary school level the subject is meant to prepare learners for useful living through inculcation of Christian attitudes and values, and to prepare learners for higher education (Akubue, 2012).

Without effective religious studies Nigerian nation will likely to end up in conflict, religious crisis, insurgencies and social unrest among other things. This is because religious control human actions in both social, political, economical and otherwise (Eluu, 2015). The teaching of CRS dates back to the 19th century with the pioneers of Nigerian education (Banjo, 2013). During the missionary administration because of the moral values it teaches the people. Following the government takeover of schools, Nigerian, secondary school curriculum was reviewed and more emphasis was placed on the studies of science and technological subjects. This shift affected the study and interest of students in CRS in school system leading to poor enrollment in CRS. Gbenda (2014) stresses that student’s enrollment and interest in CRS could as well be as of result of inadequate provision of teaching aids, fewer professional teachers and lack of incentives among other things. Njoku (2015) equally adduced that poor enrollment of student in CRS could be attributed to teacher’s instructional delivery system and teachers’ personality. CRS is taught in all the senior secondary schools in Nigerian as an elective subject. The elective nature of the subject in senior secondary schools in Nigeria equally reduced the number of students that register for the subject in West African examination council (WAEC) and national examination council (NECO) as well as other internal examination. CRS is a subject that bases its teaching on the life and teaching of Jesus Christ (Ugwu, 2011) as a teaching subject, it is not only geared towards converting people to Christianity, but is necessary for value formation, orientation and reorientation of value system as well as spiritual upliftment of the student. Ali and Akubue in Njoku (2015) observed that, CRS is a subject which aims at developing and fostering in the lives of the students Christian attitudes and values such as respect to life, obedience to constitutional authority, responsible self, selfless series to God and humanity. To them, CRS is seen as an academic discipline that is designed to provide the leaner with moral and spiritual transformation. This shows that CRS is the study of Christian lifestyles such as love, caring, patience, faith, forgiveness and hope in God as well as good relationship among men. Obanya in Njoku (2014) maintained that CRS like every other subjects has five features. These features are; a set of rational theoretical formulation, inherent capacity for growth, applicable solution to human problems, organized Body of the knowledge and a degree of uniformity with other area of academic activities. In the context of this study, CRS is defined as a social science subject that teaches students good moral behaviour, fearing of God, knowledge and skills that will make them to contribute their quota in socio-economic and moral development in senior secondary schools. The inclusion of sound religions and moral values in the life of students invariably could help in the development of spiritual and moral sound being of the students.

Therefore, in Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Christian Religious Studies Students Life Style and Teaching Practice.

---

1.3 Statement of the Problem

Christian Religious Studies (CRS) is designed to achieve many goals in the lives of students ranging from teaching the students about God to the teaching of moral values which is geared towards shaping human behavior. These values are embedded in the stories and events recorded in the bible (drawn from the life of Christian and other mystical beings). Notwithstanding the lofty aims of CRS, studies by Ali and Akubue (2014) showed that learners’ moral attitude have not improved greatly especially at this era. Meanwhile, an appraisal of CRS curriculum contents revealed that the subject has the potentials required to build one’s moral character.

Right from inception of education in Nigeria, CRS has been one of the core subjects in secondary schools. However, there have been questions on the efficacy of CRS programme in instilling discipline and moulding character of the learner. Judging from the state of the moral behaviour of students, it seems that the subject is not achieving its major goals, which is developing in learners the ability to attain intellectual and moral perfection, discipline them both mentally and morally so as to face their daily and future challenges as good citizens (Akubue, 2012).

The above observations seem to suggest that CRS is taught in schools without much impact on the lives of the people, that is, without achieving its sets objectives in students’ lives. The study therefore sought to examine the impact of Christian religious studies (CRS) on the behavior of secondary school students in Nigeria.

---

1.4 Aim and Objectives of the Study

The aim of the study is to examine the Christian Religious Studies Students Life Style and Teaching Practice in Nigeria. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:

1. To investigate the impact of Christian Religious Studies Students Life Style and Teaching Practice in Nigeria
2. Examine the relationship between Christian Religious Studies and behavior of students.
3. Examine the challenges to effective teaching practice of CRS students.
4. Suggest ways of curbing the challenges affecting the teaching of CRS students.

---

1.5 Research Questions

The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:

• Do Christian Religious Studies Students Life Style and Teaching Practice influence the academic achievement?
• What is the relationship between Christian Religious Studies and behavior of students?
• What are the challenges to effective teaching of CRS students?
• What are the ways of curbing the challenges affecting the teaching of CRS students?

---

1.6 Research Hypothesis

In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.

H0: There is no relationship between Christian Religious Studies students Life Style and Teaching Practice

H1: There is a relationship between Christian Religious Studies students Life Style and Teaching Practice