Pupils taking up the revamped Religious Education GCSE will have to study at least two religions, the Department for Education has announced.

The changes to the subject, which have been backed by all the major churches and faith groups, are designed to deliver a more comprehensive overview of different religions to better reflect the diversity of the UK population.

According to the DfE, this more robust GCSE will help students to develop a better understanding of the 'the central role of religion' in Britain's culture.

The government is keen to emphasise the importance of diversity in this subject overhaul – pupils will examine the 'beliefs, teachings and sources of wisdom' of two religions during the first half of their GCSE.

Education secretary Nicky Morgan said that in ensuring students study more than one religion in detail, the government is helping equipping youngsters for "life in modern Britain".

"It is of paramount importance that young people understand the central importance of religion in Britain’s cultural heritage and high-quality religious education in schools is key to achieving that," she explained.

"Every major faith group agrees that the current religious studies GCSE fails to do this. That’s why we have developed a new GCSE that, while protecting the right of faith schools to focus primarily on their own religion, will require students to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the diversity of religious beliefs in Great Britain."

Commenting on news of this, Reverend Nigel Genders, chief education officer of England's at the Church of England, said it is difficult to overemphasise the importance of developing a better and thorough understanding of religion in pupils.

Developing a "broad and demanding" GCSE is therefore essential in developing all-round skills and knowledge in youngsters, he went on to say, adding that he is looking forward to working with the DfE in refining the subject before it is implemented.