Colonial Education and Regional Control PDF

**3.7 Colonial Education and Regional Control** From 1842 up to 1870 the colonial government had no hand in the education of Nigerians, rather they were busy establishing control over different parts of Nigeria that resisted the white man's colonization. The process of educating was left in the han...

**3.7 Colonial Education and Regional Control** From 1842 up to 1870 the colonial government had no hand in the education of Nigerians, rather they were busy establishing control over different parts of Nigeria that resisted the white man's colonization. The process of educating was left in the hands of missionary societies. From 1872 the Colonial government started showing interest in the education of the people by giving grants-in-aids of £30 to each missionary body involved in education of the people. The first to get this grants include Wesleyan Methodist Church, Church Missionary Society and Roman Catholic Church. The grants - in - aids remained as such until 1877 when it was raised to £200 per year for each of the three missions. In 1882 the colonial authority changed their attitudes to the education of the colony when it passed an educational ordinance that gave it the power to: 1. Give grants - in - aids to all missionary bodies involve in the educational sector, 2. Establish board of education to oversee the process of education, 3. Appoint inspectors of education who inspect and determine which missionary body should benefit from colonial authority assistance, 4. The colonial government to open its own schools. 5. Force missionary to admit children of Muslims in their schools. The above educational ordinance committed the colonial government into the education sector of the colony by: 1. Establishing government own schools 2. Inspecting schools established by the missionaries. 3. Establishing and ensuring standards for all schools. 4. Giving grants-in-aids to all missions that established schools. 5. Ensuring quality control by closing any school that is not up to standard etc: Subsequently between 1882 - 1950 many codes and regulations were issued by the colonial government to regulate the quality of education in various parts of the country. As a result of this educational ordinance and others enacted by the colonial government, it became a more powerful partner in the educational sector. The colonial government opened its first primary school in Lagos in 1889 this was followed by another school in Benin City in 1901. The first Government Secondary school was opened in 1909 as Kings College Lagos. 1n1923 Katsina Teacher Training College was opened. The first post-secondary institution was opened in 1932 called Yaba Higher College, in 1948 University College Ibadan was opened. Richards's constitution, of 1945 divided the country into three regions: East, West and the North each with a regional assembly and a department of education. By 1952 there was election which gave the political parties control of their regional assembly. East was captured by National Council of Nigeria and Cameroons, West by Action Group and North by Northern People's Congress. These political parties during their campaigns promised to lay emphasis on the education of their people. **3.7.1 Western Education in the North** Western education was fully established in the south from 1842 whereas in the northern part of the country it starts around 1900 in Lokoja. All earlier efforts failed due to - geographical location of the north from coast, - lack of access road, - presence of an educational system in the north before that of the Christian missionaries; - fear of conversion into Christianity and other reasons. In 1906 a school was established in Sokoto that taught Hausa and Arabic in Roman scripts but the school, like others before it failed. A more concerted effort was by Mr. HansVischer an education director of the northern region who in 1909 established a complex school in Kano which includes: 1. Malam school -- for training of teachers 2. Chiefs school - for children of Emirs and Chiefs, 3. Artisan/Craft school - for the training of children of the chief servants, 4. Elementary school- for general literacy training. From 1905 --- 1909 the Nassarawa schools at Kano were established they include two elementary schools, one primary school, one secondary school and one technical school. They provided secular education for the Muslims and that slowed the pace of missionary education and evangelism. By 1914 the Vischer's complex school, in Kano gave way for provincial schools opened in Sokoto, Katsina, Bida and Zaria. On the other hand, by 1902 Lord Lugard has restricted the missionaries to non-Muslim areas of the north while in the Muslim north government had declared it would establish secular schools for them. The arrival of railway to Kano in 1913 and the presence of other trading companies brought southerners into the north which led to the establishment of schools for their children and churches for their worship. This popularizes the need for western education in the north since Islamic education cannot give a license for employment. The Northern Regional Assembly came under N.P.C. In 1952 with Sardauna of Sokoto as the leader. The regional government was not interested in following West and Eastern governments to introduce U.P.E. because: - - - - As a response to the prevailing situation the government set up the Oldman commission in 1961 to look into financial and administrative problems of introducing UPE in the region. The commission presented its report in 1962 and recommended that: - - - - Consequently, that led to an education law that established a partnership between the government and voluntary agency to the promotion of primary education. **3.7.2 Western Region** In the Western Region Action Group led by Chief Obafemi Awolowo won election and promised to give top priority to education and Health. The West Minister of Education, Chief S 0 Awokoya announced the introduction of UPE by January 1955, from 1952 to 1955 the region was preparing by building more schools, training more teachers with the help of Ohio University from America. The government of western region allocated 40% of its budget to education and almost 90% of it went to primary education. These efforts made them to succeed in their UPE program. By 1960 the region had over one million pupils enrolled under free primary education. Despite the relative success of the program, the regional government setup the Banjo Commission to review the existing system of education both at primary and secondary level - The commission recommended for: - - - - - These recommendations came as a result of the commission's observations that: - standard of education was failing due to: - presence of untrained teachers, - private studies by teachers at the expense of children, - too large classes. - unsatisfactory syllabus. - inadequate supervision of schools etc. The UPE programme accommodated more than 90% percent of the children of school age in the Western region by 1960 independence of Nigeria. **\ 3.7.3 Eastern Region** In the Eastern region N.C.N.C. captured the regional assembly. The regional government in 1953 presented its U.P.E. proposal to start by January 1957 with an eight years' free primary education. The government allocated 48% of its budget to education. The program was launched in February 1957 but ran into problem because: - - - - - - In 958, because of these problems, the regional government set up a committee under Dr. K. Dike to review the education system. The committee recommended concentration on quality rather than quantity. The government introduced a three-year non-fee paying system and a three-year fee paying system. The program was in operation until after independence.