Mr. E. R. J. Hussey's appointment on 17 July, 1929 as the first Director of amalgamated education (between the north and south) was seen as a big development in the educational field. He tried to merge the two separate ordinances, though this did not work out until 1 January 1949 (Taiwo, 1980).
In the north, the government took responsibility of opening and maintaining schools, though on the condition that there were enough trained teachers. The Government took this responsibility for political reasons and because the demand for western education after the war was not much. As a result there was no proliferation of poorly equipped schools.
In order to keep pace with the educational development in the south, Katsina Training College was established for the north in 1921. This college had very good trained English Language teachers. In 1929 a Teacher Training College was established in Toro to cater for the need of the 'Pagans' in that area. Toro was a model agricultural village in which the students, their wives and children lived and practice agriculture just as they would do on their return to their respective villages. These two schools provided steady educational development in the northern part of the country, though there was still no girls' education.
In 1929 there were 116 Government cum-native administration schools comprising 95 elementary, 8 crafts, 12 primary(middle) and one secondary (the training college) with a population of 3,549 pupils. There were 152 mission schools of which only five were assisted. The population of the mission school stood at 4,446. The European staff in the Government schools were 53 in number while in the mission schools they were 84. From 1929 - 30, the Government spent £54,650 (N109,300) of which £391 (N782) was grants-in-aid. The Koranic schools were actually many. They had 30,303 Quranic schools with a total population of 381,536 (Taiwo, 1980, p.75). These figures show they were not interested in western education.
Hussey’s Reviewed Educational Programme in Nigeria In 1930 Hussey came with another Policy on Education which stated the current position and made proposals for all the levels of education both in the northern and southern provinces: primary, secondary and higher levels. In the north he proposed three elementary training centres for vernacular teachers using Hausa as the medium of instruction. The centres were to be under the superintendents of Education and other trained elementary teachers from England. The courses they would offer should be tailored towards the need of the community. The primary would be merged with the craft schools to form the middle schools and would run a six year course in secondary and technical school subjects. Higher education would be provided in Zaria and vocational courses in medicine, agriculture, engineering, teaching, etc would be offered. Girls’ schools were to be established in Kano and Katsina.
In the South, he proposed a four year elementary education with sub- standard classes for infants, six year secondary education and a higher education at the Yaba Higher College. He also proposed the addition of three government training centres to the existing voluntary agency training colleges.
The proposals were adopted when Hussey finally left Nigeria on February 29,1939. Most of the proposals have remained the pattern of Nigeria educational system till date.
Nevertheless, much as the end result of Hussey’s policy was good, especially in the later part of the history, the restriction on opening more schools affected so many people’s urge for western education. Secondly, the system of having two different ordinances for the north and south, respectively, helped in enhancing educational disparity between the two regions. The gap it widened between these two parts of the country is still being felt both politically and educationally.
In the north, the government took responsibility of opening and maintaining schools, though on the condition that there were enough trained teachers. The Government took this responsibility for political reasons and because the demand for western education after the war was not much. As a result there was no proliferation of poorly equipped schools.
In order to keep pace with the educational development in the south, Katsina Training College was established for the north in 1921. This college had very good trained English Language teachers. In 1929 a Teacher Training College was established in Toro to cater for the need of the 'Pagans' in that area. Toro was a model agricultural village in which the students, their wives and children lived and practice agriculture just as they would do on their return to their respective villages. These two schools provided steady educational development in the northern part of the country, though there was still no girls' education.
In 1929 there were 116 Government cum-native administration schools comprising 95 elementary, 8 crafts, 12 primary(middle) and one secondary (the training college) with a population of 3,549 pupils. There were 152 mission schools of which only five were assisted. The population of the mission school stood at 4,446. The European staff in the Government schools were 53 in number while in the mission schools they were 84. From 1929 - 30, the Government spent £54,650 (N109,300) of which £391 (N782) was grants-in-aid. The Koranic schools were actually many. They had 30,303 Quranic schools with a total population of 381,536 (Taiwo, 1980, p.75). These figures show they were not interested in western education.
Hussey’s Reviewed Educational Programme in Nigeria In 1930 Hussey came with another Policy on Education which stated the current position and made proposals for all the levels of education both in the northern and southern provinces: primary, secondary and higher levels. In the north he proposed three elementary training centres for vernacular teachers using Hausa as the medium of instruction. The centres were to be under the superintendents of Education and other trained elementary teachers from England. The courses they would offer should be tailored towards the need of the community. The primary would be merged with the craft schools to form the middle schools and would run a six year course in secondary and technical school subjects. Higher education would be provided in Zaria and vocational courses in medicine, agriculture, engineering, teaching, etc would be offered. Girls’ schools were to be established in Kano and Katsina.
In the South, he proposed a four year elementary education with sub- standard classes for infants, six year secondary education and a higher education at the Yaba Higher College. He also proposed the addition of three government training centres to the existing voluntary agency training colleges.
The proposals were adopted when Hussey finally left Nigeria on February 29,1939. Most of the proposals have remained the pattern of Nigeria educational system till date.
Nevertheless, much as the end result of Hussey’s policy was good, especially in the later part of the history, the restriction on opening more schools affected so many people’s urge for western education. Secondly, the system of having two different ordinances for the north and south, respectively, helped in enhancing educational disparity between the two regions. The gap it widened between these two parts of the country is still being felt both politically and educationally.
Social Plugin