1925 Memorandum on Education in British Colonial Territories

The memorandum was drawn along the following lines:
1. Necessity for government to accept, and readiness to encourage, voluntary educational efforts that could conform to the general policy, while directing educational policy and supervising all educational institutions either by inspection or in some other ways;

2. Establishment of an Advisory Board of Education in each dependency with wide representation of the medical, Agricultural and Public Works Departments, missionaries, traders, settlers and native communities; 

3. Adaptation of education to the mentality, aptitudes, occupations, and traditions of the various peoples; Attracting the greatest importance to religious teaching and moral
instruction related to the conditions and daily experience of the pupils;

 5. Making provision for the status and conditions of service of staff of the education department to attract the best available men – both British and African;

6. Giving grants-in-aid to schools that conform to the prescribed regulations and attain the necessary standards;

7. Preparation of vernacular textbooks, and adaptation of the contents and methods of teaching to African conditions, with illustrations from African life and experiences;

8. Ensuring adequacy of local teaching staff (including women) in number, qualifications and character, and recognizing the great importance of character training in this regard with due realization of the dependence of a sound system of education on the training of teachers;

9. Adopting the system of trained visiting or itinerant teachers for the improvement of village schools and their teachers;

10. Recognizing the necessity for a thorough system of supervision and inspection of schools;

11. Making the acquisition of their knowledge of English and Arithmetic essential before the start of apprenticeship for skilled artisans;

12. Instilling into pupils through the education system the view that vocational careers are as honourable as the clerical, and making them equally as attractive;

13. Promoting better education of girls and women in the tropical African communities since educated wives and mothers mean educated homes; 

14. Instituting a complete education system, comprising
a. Infant and primary education for boys and girls;
b. Secondary or intermediate education of different types and
curricular;
c. Institutions for technical and vocational education; 

d. Other institutions, including some that could advance later to university status and providing courses in such professional field as education, medicine and agriculture, among others;
e. Adult education. (Taiwo, 1980 pp.70-71; Ikejiani, 1964 pp. 5-

6; Abiri, 2005 pp. 41-43). Apart from the memorandum of 1925 which provided the above 14 guidelines, the recommendations of the Phelps-Stokes Commission also led to the promulgation of Education Ordinance No. 14 of 1926 for the Northern province and ordinance No. 11 together with the associated Regulations of 1927 for Lagos colony and the Southern province. The aim of these was to solve the identified problems through greater control and supervision of schools by the government and through cooperation with the voluntary agencies.

Exercise 6:
You may please read 1926 ordinance and 1927 code for more information. 

 CONCLUSION

The Phelps-Stokes Commission was a turning point in the education of Africa generally and Nigeria in particular. It was a comprehensive study that exposed the weaknesses of the mission and colonial systems of education in the country. Its recommendations were very helpful to the nation’s education.

SUMMARY

In this unit, we have learnt that:

•  the Phelps-Stokes Commission was an independent commission sponsored by an American philanthropic organization to study the education of the Africans during the colonial rule; 
• the commission was guided with four basic objectives which they complied with; 
•  the commission made some observations or findings which guided their recommendations, which was released in 1922; 
•  the recommendations of the commission led to the 1925.Memorandum of education and subsequent ordinance and code of 1926 and 1927 respectively.