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Educating the "Native": A Study of the Education Adaptation Strategy in British ColonialAfrica, 1910-1936Author(s): Michael OmolewaSource: The Journal of African American History, Vol. 91, No. 3 (Summer, 2006), pp. 267-287Published by: Association for the Study of African American Life and History, Inc.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20064091 .

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EDUCATING THE "NATIVE":A STUDY OF THE EDUCATIONADAPTATION STRATEGY IN BRITISHCOLONIAL AFRICA, 1910-1936

Michael Omolewa*

This essay discusses how examinations were used as an "adaptationstrategy" beginning in 1910 when British examinations boards were invited toassist with the conduct of secondary school examinations in colonialterritories in Africa. Although adaptation covered all aspects of formalschooling, this study focuses on secondary education because of itsimportance as the highest level of education available, and its significantimpact on colonial society at the time. Much of recent literature on the

adaptation question has focused on the various levels of schooling beyondbasic village education in rural areas.1 The essay examines the responses,particularly in Nigeria, to the suggestion that secondary education should be"adapted to local needs," and the results of the adaptation efforts, culminatingin the introduction of the "Overseas School Certificate Examination" for

Nigerian candidates in 1936.The foundation of Western education in Africa was laid by Christianmissionaries who were eager to use literacy training to introduce Christianityand win converts to their religion.2 The missionaries also used Westerneducation to train Africans as catechists, messengers, and other positionsneeded to assist them in realizing the social and economic development andtransformations desired by the European missionaries and their agents.Merchants and traders also required qualified personnel to handle theirbusiness transactions. Thus after considerable consultations between theChurch Missionary Society (CMS), founded by the Church of England topromote evangelization, and the local merchants and traders, the firstsecondary school in Nigeria, the Church Missionary Society Grammar School,was founded inLagos in 1859.3It is by no means surprising that the first secondary school in Nigeria wasestablished by the Church Missionary Society (CMS). Its secretary from 1841to 1872, Henry Venn, firmly believed in the development of adequate humanresources, and that the school must be self-supporting, self-governing, andself-propagating, and should employ African personnel.4 The African

Michael Omolewa is Professor of Adult Education at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria; and Ambassadorand Permanent Delegate of Nigeria to UNESCO, Paris, France.

267

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268 The Journal of African American Historycommercial and business elite also required personnel that was well-trained andequipped to handle political and economic transactions between Africans andoutsiders involving record keeping and correspondence regarding theexchange of European and African goods and services.5 Africans alsogradually began to recognize the advantages and the attractions of postprimary education, especially the increased salaries and wages, and improvedconditions of service. Historian Andrew Paterson has observed that in South

Africa, "Africans perceived education to be an alternative source foreconomic security in a time of land dispossession."6In a quick succession, additional secondary schools were established by theCMS in various parts of Nigeria, and by other missionary organizations,including the Baptist Mission, the Catholic Mission, and the WesleyanMethodist Mission, beginning in the 1870s. The Qua Iboe, the Primitive

Methodist Society, established secondary schools mostly in Eastern Nigeriastarting in 1922. Secondary schools also gradually began to spring up invarious other parts of Africa, as community colleges, high schools, andsecondary grammar schools, often in cooperation with Christian missionsthat provided the teachers, the curriculum, and the necessary contacts;

however, the local communities provided the buildings and raised funds forthese educational services.7 This was the background to the establishment ofvarious mission schools in Africa. In Nigeria, for example, ethnic-basedsecondary schools such as Oduduwa College, Ile-Ife; Edo College, Benin City;and Imade College, Owo began to sprout up to attend to the various needs ofcommunities and individuals eager to take advantage of the new opportunitiesfor advancement and promotion in the new society that emerged with thecoming of the missionaries and the colonial administrative bureaucracy.8At first the British colonial government was unwilling to have a directinvolvement in the promotion of secondary education in Nigeria. However,British officials soon recognized that, following the establishment of colonialrule and the subsequent increase in the demand for clerks, messengers,interpreters, and other administrators needed to maintain British control inthe region, it became imperative to establish secondary schools. Thus in 1909British colonial administrators decided to establish King's College in Lagos as

a model secondary school, providing "sound general education."9 Governmentofficials also began to complement and supplement the work of the missionsby establishing model secondary schools in various provinces. The colonialadministrators also began to introduce legislation and provide the policyframework for the expansion of schooling in the colonies.10

This process was accompanied by the invitation to the Britishexaminations board to test the literary competence and ability of thegraduates of the secondary school system and to measure its quality. To thisend, London University examinations were introduced early to Mauritius, andlater to parts of East and West Africa. The colonial administrators alsoinvited the University of Cambridge Local Examination Syndicate into thecountry in 1910 to assist in conducting the secondary school examinations.11


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A Study of the Education Adaptation Strategy in British Colonial Africa, 1910-1936 269In doing so the British colonial regime believed that it was taking advantageof the decision of the University of Cambridge in its statute of 11 February1858, to establish the syndicate for the examination of students who are notmembers of the university.12 The University of Oxford, which had establishedthe University Delegacy for Local Examinations on 18 June 1857, followed

Cambridge in 1929 in the work of conducting secondary school examinationsinNigeria.13Examinations have remained a very powerful instrument for controllingthe content of instruction. They influence curriculum design and preparation,and dictate the teaching and learning process.14 As Fafunwa, a Nigerianeducation specialist, declared, "It is an educational truism that examinationscontrol the curriculum and whosoever controls a country's examinationsystem controls its education."15 Historian Angela Little has made thefollowing important point:

[Examinations represent the ultimate goal of the educational career, they define what arethe important aspects of a school curriculum and they dictate to a large extent the qualityof the school experience for both teacher and student alike. Moreover, the quality of theexamination system itself can have a considerable impact on the quality of skill formationencouraged by the education system, which skills in turn could have a considerableimpact on the inputs to the labour market.16

Historian Mary E. Dillard has also observed that it is important to devotecloser attention to the instrument of measurement in our effort to understandhow educational systems have developed, "in addition to studying educationalcontent, curriculum, and the structure of schooling."17

DEBATINGTHECONTENTOF COLONIALEDUCATIONInitially, the Africans expected much from the attainment of Western

education, but they quickly became disappointed and frustrated over theresults.18 This disenchantment was expressed in complaints from Africans andEuropeans alike that the "imported" educational system failed to achieve itsobjectives. Western education was considered "too European," and therefore,ill-suited and irrelevant to African needs, and that in the process, theindigenous values of love, community relationships, and profound spiritualitywere being lost. At the same time, some complained that the new system hadintroduced new values of intolerance, hatred, "cutthroat competition,"

disharmony, pride, arrogance, covetousness, and even cheating. It was furthersuggested that there was too much rote-learning and too little application ofthe principles being taught in the schools. Colonial officials soon resolvedthat massive reform was required.19The plans for reform were influenced by educational practices in theUnited States and promoted by the Phelps-Stokes Fund, an Americanphilanthropic foundation. In 1920 the Phelps-Stokes Fund launched itsAfrican Education Commission, led by Thomas Jesse Jones, aWelshman who


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270 The Journal of African American Historyhad formerly taught at Hampton Institute in Virginia.20 Jones assembled ateam of six observers that was to travel to West Africa to survey colonialeducational institutions and practices and to make recommendations. Theteam visited Nigeria from 4 November to 16 December 1920, and traveled toKano, Onitsha, and Calabar. In its report published in 1922, the teamconcluded that Western education had little prospect for success in theAfrican colonies because it was transplanted to a soil that was unwilling to letit grow. It was suggested that formal schooling should be adapted to suit itsenvironment. With regard to secondary education, the commission arguedthat it should aim at training African leaders and suggested that activities ofsecondary school should be determined with particular regard to the needs ofsuch leadership. Among the subjects considered relevant were sciences,

physiology, hygiene, sanitation, social studies, mathematics, languages,gardening and rural economics. The report emphasized that formal schoolingshould, in all lands, concentrate on "indigenous education" and be adapted tolocal needs.21

Among the team members were education specialists and anthropologistsfrom the Teachers College, Columbia University. They all had a keen interestin examining the educational and social development of "primitive" races,their folkways and history, because they believed that Africans should bemade to learn about these cultural beliefs and practices at all stages of theirformal schooling. This view was supported by the members of the AdvisoryCommittee on Native Education in Tropical Africa established in 1923 by theColonial Office in London. Even after the committee was renamed theAdvisory Committee on Education in the Colonies, its members continued toinsist on the need to design a specific educational system, curriculum, andexamination system for Africans, and to adapt the existing system of formalschooling to suit local needs, arguing that Western education was unsuitablefor Nigerians and other colonial subjects.22

The colonial government officials who believed that formal schooling inthe colonies must take the culture of the "natives" into account shared theirviews with others in London and this theme was echoed throughout thecolonial period. The Imperial Education Conferences of 1912, 1927, 1937and the Advisory Committee Reports on Education in the Colonies allemphasized this idea, and a 1925 white paper, titled "Education Policy inBritish Tropical Africa," highlighted the need to adapt education "to the

mentality, aptitudes, occupations and traditions of the various peoples,conserving as far as possible all sound and healthy elements in the fabric oftheir social life."23 The 1925 white paper was dispatched to all the provincialgovernors in African colonies, and Lord Lugard, chronicler of British colonialhistory, described it as "one of the principal landmarks of imperial policy inthe twentieth century."24 In October 1929, W. Ormsby-Gore, the Undersecretary of State for the Colonies and the chairman of the AdvisoryCommittee on Education in the Colonies, reiterated the position that


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A Study of the Education Adaptation Strategy in British Colonial Africa, 1910-1936 111schooling had to be adapted to the circumstances and lives of colonialpeoples. He declared that:

In all parts alike the need is felt for an education which will preserve and develop theindividuality and traditions of the various peoples, whether indigenous or immigrant,and which will give them at the same time the means of acquiring a scientific or technical

mastery of the forms of nature and a wider outlook on human experience.25

It appears that the British government considered its policy of adaptationof education to suit local needs as extremely important. In pursuance of thispolicy, the British government supported the formation of the InternationalInstitute of African Languages and Culture, which instituted five prizes for thebest books written by Africans in African languages. This action was taken,according to the authorities of the Institute, to give impetus to theproduction of vernacular literature.26

THE ROLE OF BRITISH UNIVERSITIESThe responsibility for planning secondary school curricula for the Africancolonies in the early decades of the 20th century in Africa remained with the

Departments or Ministries of Education of the various countries. But theinitiative for changes in school examinations remained in the hands of theAdvisory Committee of the Colonial Office whose primary concern,according to historian Clive Whitehead, "was to maintain more direct controlover the spread and content of education, especially at the secondary level."27

However, the actual examinations were conducted mainly by the Universityof London School Examinations Board, the Cambridge University Syndicatefor Local Examinations, and the Oxford Delegacy for Local Examinations.As was noted, examinations have a decisive influence on the schoolcurriculum, and university examination bodies had expressed their willingnessto consider suggestions from various quarters for appropriate modifications.28The Advisory Committee on Native Education in Tropical Africaacknowledged this fact in June 1929, and as early as 1930, the committeebegan to consider ways of bringing about changes in the content of theeducational programs in colonial schools.29 A sub-committee of the AdvisoryCommittee was later set up under Sir James Currie that corresponded with theEnglish universities and expressed an eagerness to modify the existing syllabifor the colonies to reflect local needs. The Advisory Committee assureduniversity officials that it was not interested in lower standards, but wanted"to retain them [colonial subjects] within the ambit of English education,whilst making such modifications. . . ."30An education conference was held in London between 25 and 31 May1935 to review proposals for the reform of the syllabus for secondary schoolexaminations in the colonies. Another meeting was held at the ColonialOffice in London on 5 December 1935 between the English examining bodies


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272 The Journal of African American Historyand colonial officials. At that meeting it was agreed that a sub-committeeshould be set up to coordinate the activities of the examining bodies andshould consist of two representatives from each of the university boardsconcerned with examinations in the dependencies, as well as individualsnominated by the secretary of state for the colonies.31After several meetings, the Advisory Committee agreed on the format forthe existing examinations and the division into subject groups. It also agreedthat the syllabi for history, physics, chemistry, and mathematics shouldremain unaltered. It recommended that local flora and fauna be substituted forthe European plants used in the botany examinations, and that a greateremphasis

should be put on local geography. Finally, it recommended thatessay topics in the English language paper should be made more meaningful tothe African students and therefore considered the inclusion of topicsconsidered relevant to the "natives," including "Native markets," "Native

Music," "Native Dancing," "Popular Superstitions," and "Polygamy."32All the English universities responsible for conducting schoolexaminations in Nigeria favorably considered the proposals submitted by the

Advisory Committee on Native Education in Tropical Africa. However, asearly as October 1922, London University adopted Hausa and Yoruba as"optional special languages" for its university entrance qualifyingexaminations. At its meeting on 18 October 1922, the London UniversityFaculty Senate approved the recommendation of the senate-appointed "Boardof Studies in Oriental Languages and Literature" that these two languages beadopted as suitable examination subjects.33 However, the University Senateinsisted that in making these decisions about the adoption of Africanlanguages, itwould only be guided on academic grounds. Thus at its meeting of5 February 1926, it resolved that "Efik is not a suitable subject to be offeredat the Matriculation Examination on the ground that there is not a sufficient

native literature to allow an adequate test of proficiency in the language."34In principle, the study of indigenous languages was a positive move, but

the assumption that Africans could not grapple with the nuances of theEnglish language was highly questionable. This probably explains why theindigenous peoples were suspicious of the intentions of the colonial officialswhom they believed did not want them to master the English language, andtherefore compete with them for positions of authority. In October 1930,London University's Board of Studies in Oriental Languages and Literaturerecommended that Igbo be recognized as a special language at the

matriculation examination on the grounds that it is the language of over fourmillion people. It was also recommended as a compulsory subject forgovernmental officials being

sent to the region before their appointmentscould be confirmed. The London University Senate, however, raisedobjections and refused to consider "extra academic factors" in the recognitionof a language at the matriculation examination.35

The Board of Studies in Oriental Languages and Literature had suggestedthat "some stimulus is needed to induce Igbo young men to study, and to help


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A Study of the Education Adaptation Strategy in British Colonial Africa, 1910-1936 273them in the development of their own language; and the recognition of Igboin this way may help to this end."36 However, in making its finalrecommendation in November 1930 to the Matriculation and SchoolExaminations Council, the Senate concluded that Igbo should not be approvedas a special language at the matriculation examination.

It was ascertained from further inquiries that Igbo literature consists at present of theBible, the Prayer Book, a Reader in the written language known as Union-Igbo, a fewbooks of a religious nature in one or other of the dialects, and a history of a town writtenby a native of that town, more or less after theUnion-Igbo model; and further that Igbo isat present a language of many dialects.37

The University of London also faced problems introducing the study ofAfrican history into the curriculum because of the absence of textbooks orother written materials.38 Some colonial officials were convinced that someof the indigenous peoples came to their present destinations "at some timeunknown, and had nothing in the way of history, handicrafts, customs, orphysique to make them notable."39 The existing textbooks devoted only afew paragraphs to the history of the African peoples before the coming ofthe Europeans. Moreover, Englishman T. R. Batten, the author of severaltextbooks on African history, argued that "throughout the long ages before

Africa was controlled by European powers in the nineteenth century, therewere few changes in African ways of living."40 Most colonial officials did notconsider the history of the "natives" worthy of study, largely because theysaw "history" as a subject needed to inform the "natives" about the European"civilizing missions." As one of them put it: "We must tell them the story ofhow the white man has come in his great ships to show the new ways of

mining and planting, bringing also factories and cinemas, railways and motorlorries, that break up the old life."41 University entrance examinationsincluded questions on Henry the Navigator and the European explorers

possibly as part of the promotion of "imperial" African history.With regard to the art curriculum, Cambridge University carefullyconsidered the proposals submitted by K. C. Murray, who as early as 1931 hadcriticized the Syndicate's art examination as unsuitable for developing arteducation inNigeria because "theyhave little to do with art and nothing to dowith African traditions."42 Murray then volunteered to consult Africans who,being "a practicable people," would be able to design a syllabus in arteducation. In 1933 the Cambridge Syndicate reported that it was proposing toadapt its course to "tropical needs and conditions."43 Overall, by 1936 theSyndicate had worked out several new examination programs for the Nigeriancandidates, but the examinations retained the titles "Junior SchoolCertificate" and "School Certificate." Both examinations included "overseassubjects" such as geography, which had some questions inserted to test thecandidates' knowledge of "local conditions." For the award of certificates, allcandidates for the examinations were required to pass the English language


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274 The Journal of African American Historypaper, which was designed to test the candidates' ability to write Englishcorrectly. Candidates were required to offer English and four to eight subjectschosen from at least two groupings of courses.44The Cambridge University Syndicate, like the other examination bodies,continued to insist on the attainment of specific marks to determine the levelof achievement of candidates, and emphasized that "special attention is paidto the English language test in awarding grades. In no circumstances is Grade I,the highest level, awarded to a candidate who fails to reach the pass standardin this test."45 This of course had implications for the mastery of other

European languages in the country, none of which was made compulsory.46THE CHALLENGE OF ADAPTATION

The implementation of the adaptation strategy in Nigeria was fraughtwith difficulties. Western education was introduced into Africa five centuriesafter universities had been established in Europe, and more than one thousandyears after Western education had been in practice in a written form. Thosewho pioneered Western education in Africa were aware that while they weredealing with "fundamental" schooling in Africa, in England the universities ofOxford and Cambridge and English grammar schools had been established asfar back as the 12th century.47 Some colonial officials assumed that formalschooling in Africa was to be limited to basic village education in a ruralsetting, but there were those who begrudgingly recognized the need to extendschooling to the secondary education level. Furthermore, the Christianmissionaries who introduced Western education were ignorant of traditionalAfrican educational systems, with their emphasis on apprenticeship training,oral tradition, and respect for elders, honesty, and fair play.48 Manymissionaries and colonial officials assumed there was no educationalfoundation on which they could build. They later realized that theirassumptions about the indigenous educational practices

were invalid.Moreover, the new educational system produced unexpected outcomes by

conferring rewards such as jobs and social status on successful students. Thisdrove some African students to do almost anything to achieve success,including rote-memorization of the material, cheating, or even buying their

way to examination success. Unlike traditional education, which wasinterwoven into communal life, Western education produced a new breed of

Africans who were at times alienated from their own communities because ofthe power and authority conferred on them by their new status. As onecolonial official observed, "Some products of the educational system overestimated their own achievement and worth."49 The colonial office in the1950s had to accept that,

Education practice in Africa has come under fire from various quarters. . . .There are thosewho say that the education we offer is too bookish, is not related to the environment ofthe country, and does not pay sufficient attention to character training; that primary


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A Study of the Education Adaptation Strategy in British Colonial Africa, 1910-1936 275education ought to have an agricultural and rural bias; that secondary education turnsout too many people with a desire for white-collar employment.50

At independence, a Nigerian minister of education, Chief J. A. O. Odebiyi,described Nigerian secondary school graduates as "mercenary, materialisticand complacent" and added that they "tend to think that possession of aCambridge orWest African Examinations Council certificate entitled them tobelieve that the world owes them a living."51The implementation of the adaptation strategy further undermined itspotential success. Indeed, adaptation became cosmetic, incomplete, nonparticipatory, alienating, and exclusive. Those who benefited did not sharethe educational vision, but went along for personal gain. This was because theofficials who implemented adaptation did not anticipate or call for anycontribution from the local people. Eventually, British examinations boardsaccepted the adaptation program and began introducing new elements into thetests. However, these minor changes did not greatly affect the overalldevelopment of Nigerian secondary education. The English language paperremained compulsory, and even the addition of new essay topics for Nigeriancandidates did not introduce major changes in the paper. Some essay topicssuch as '"Where there's a will there's a way': How far can this proverb beapplied to our everyday life?" were more appealing to Nigerian candidateswho had come to sit for the examinations only to prove the dictum. The factthat the examinations had to be written in intelligible and meaningful Englishonly reinforced the Nigerian students' belief that "adaptation" meant greaterfacility inWestern subjects.

However, many of the subjects were not greatly affected by theadaptation strategy. Arithmetic, geometry, and algebra papers continued to bedesigned to test the candidates' ability, irrespective of their geographicallocation. Physics and chemistry examinations, for instance, tested the sameinformation whether they were taken in Britain or in the colonies. Botanyand geography were among the "adapted" subjects, but the basic requirementsfor standard examinations remained and only about one in ten of thequestions reflected colonial circumstances. For example, geography papersbefore and after adaptation included questions on the earth?its form,

movement, and atmosphere; construction and use of maps; distribution ofland and water; vegetation; distribution of population; and so forth. But forcandidates in Africa, at least one question was added that dealt with theregional geography of Great Britain, and either Africa or America.52The examiners included questions on the history of the exploration of

Africa and the growth of the British Empire, but not on the history ofAfrican peoples. The subject groups remained, but the list of topics wasexpanded. However, it was possible for the candidates to avoid some of thenewly introduced subjects and still obtain a certificate. It was also possible toavoid any new topic inserted in the old subjects and still pass the examination.


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276 The Journal of African American HistoryTable I shows the subject groups before and after the introduction of specialoverseas examinations.Table I: School Examinations Subjects in Nigeria, 1916-1936*

Subjects offered toNigerians Subjects offered toNigeriansbefore adaptation_after adaptation_Group I: English EnglishGroup II: HistoryHistoryReligious Knowledge Religious KnowledgeLatin Latin

Yoruba

Group III: Arithmetic ArithmeticGeometry Geometry

AlgebraAlgebraGeography GeographyPhysics-with-Chemistry Chemistry

BotanyBiologyGroup IV: Drawing Drawing

Book-keepingShorthandArt

Note that the examination was given at the end of secondary education and that candidateswere expected to "pass" in a minimum of five subjects taken from at least three groups,

including Group I:(Sources: Reports of the Oxford Delegacy for Local Examinations and the Cambridge

University Local Examinations Syndicate, and the University of London Matriculation andSchools Examinations Council, 1916-1936).

Perhaps it would be better to describe the new system as a modificationrather than "adaptation" since the continued emphasis on English as thelingua franca was itself a negation of adaptation. The secretary of state forthe colonies, Ormsby-Gore, came close to acknowledging this reality when inan address at the annual Conference of Educational Associations on 5 January1937, he declared that "external examinations have always tended toinfluence curricula, and have not always helped the true course of goodeducation."53

It is significant that the apologists for adaptation did not comment on thenegative aspects of external examinations. For example, no consideration was


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A Study of the Education Adaptation Strategy in British Colonial Africa, 1910-1936 277given to the view that examinations inevitably generated "an exaggeratedspirit of selfish rivalry, and a desire of immediate praise andreward. . . . Personal ambition prevails over public spirit and

patriotism . . . love of self as opposed to love of others."54 And Sir JohnLubbock pointed out in his criticism of the British examinations that "everyschoolmaster will be anxious, for the credit of the school, to obtain as large aproportion of certificates as possible, and under these circumstances attentionwill be concentrated on the four subjects taken. . . ,"55 Therefore, it wouldappear that the promoters of adapted education failed to appreciate theproblems of an educational system based solely on examinations, problemswhich transcended race and nation.

Historian Henry D'Souza observed that the adaptation strategy was largelyrestricted to the New Zealand Maoris, the black population in the Caribbean,the native peoples of the Philippines, Africans in the sub-Saharan region, andblack South Africans. He has further explained that adaptation "implied lowstandards compared with that offered at comparable institutions in Britain."56He also expressed agreement with the description of T. Smith, a BritishMember of Parliament, who had described adapted schooling as "education onthe Woolworth basis." D'Souza concluded that the adapted curriculum was "amethod of discriminating against the 'native' by slowing down the educationalpace and watering the curriculum content."57 Charles Loram, an apologist forthe adapted curriculum in South Africa, was concerned with the "natives ofSouth Africa," and in his view "industrial training should be made the chiefend of Native education."58 Historian Andrew Paterson pointed to the"certainty with which Loram attributed consensus" on the question of

adaptation in South Africa among "all white colonial interest groups."59In the early 1920s, the distinct form of "Negro industrial education"associated with Hampton and Tuskegee Institutes and aimed at maintainingthe subordination of the southern black working class was recommended asappropriate for the "native peoples" in European colonies in Africa.

Historian P. S. Zachernuk explained that "informed by the American-basedPhelps-Stokes Commission, and modeled in part on what white Americansthought suited their African American underclass, colonial education policyhoped to create loyal Africans who knew their place in gendered colonial andracial hierarchies."60 Edward Berman contends that the recommendations ofthe Phelps-Stokes Fund's Education Commission to Africa had "strong racistovertones," and would have proved disastrous for the development of Africahad they been adopted.61 He noted that "the belief inAfrican inferiority anddepravity led many to conclude that Africans and their American descendantscould not possibly benefit from a literary education."62 Berman also drewattention to the chairman of the Continuation Committee of the World

Missionary Conference who observed in 1914 that the "mental digestion" ofthe "child race" is weak, and that these races "are more successful in gettingknowledge than using it." The chairman then concluded that the intellectualinfirmity of the African had grown out of the "low state of his civilisation


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278 The Journal of African American Historyand the effect on his mind of centuries of barbarous lawlessness and cruelty."63

Historian Kenneth King has been critical of the recommendations of thePhelps-Stokes Commission because they were based on assumptions ofAfrican inferiority and served as a recipe for political and economicsubordination.64 These researchers also suggested that the Commission failedto have a direct influence on educational developments in African coloniesbecause it was overly ambitious, spent too little time in Africa, and did notconsult well-respected members of the African intelligentsia.65Rather than planning a more suitable educational system, overworked andinexperienced colonial officials embarked on the adaptation program half

heartedly. It is difficult to resist suggesting that if these officials had kepttheir own children in the colony's schools, they would have appealed to moreexperienced and competent educational planners outside the colony foradvice and sought additional financial assistance for local educationalprograms from the Colonial Office. However, colonial officials refused tobring their children with them because of fears about the tropical climate. Theofficial reports consistently carried the information that "West Africa hasalways had, and deserved, the reputation of being so unhealthy that almostcertain death would be the fate of the white man who endeavoured to make ithis home. And in this general condemnation Nigeria has been included."66 E.Speed, the first Chief Justice of Nigeria, also commented that "by the natureof our service which precludes the possibility of bringing up children in

Nigeria, we are forced to maintain a residence for our family at home or at allevents in some climate where children can live."67 The adapted schoolingavailable in the British colonies in Africa was meant only to apply to Africanchildren, and historian Martin Carnoy suggests that the failure of Westerneducation to produce a mass of innovative and highly trained individuals wasnot a failure at all, but the direct result of the colonizing function ofschooling, adapted or otherwise, in a capitalist economy.68In searching for the real motives for the genesis of the adaptationstrategy, one must look at the apprehensions of the colonial officials whosuddenly discovered that Nigerians were investing heavily in their formalschooling, which was considered a passport to upward mobility in the colonialsystem. Because the colonial government invested comparatively little inschooling, many Nigerians began courses through self-education, scornedindigenous education and sub-standard educational institutions, and vigorouslyembraced the English universities' examinations. Many Nigerian youths beganto consider the acquisition of the certificate as their prime objective for socialadvancement. Commenting on "these misguided aspirations," of young West

Africans, the well-respected Nigerian nationalist Nnamdi Azikiwe pointed outthat "the African is not, and never has been, a problem; there is no such thingas an African educational problem." The real issue was the overarchingemphasis on certificates, credentials, and "degrees after one's name."69But these values were rarely acquired through the passing of the SchoolCertificate or the Overseas School Certificate examinations. Azikiwe did not


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A Study of the Education Adaptation Strategy in British Colonial Africa, 1910-1936 279preach the discontinuance of the external examinations, but he wanted themsupplemented by training that would inculcate in the Nigerian youth a senseof dedication, patriotism, and loyalty. It seems plausible to suggest that thecolonial administration was not prepared to pursue such an educationalexperiment, and there seems to have been an element of improvisationassociated with adaptation because shortly after the colonial officialstransplanted Western education in Nigeria, they began to regret the initiativebecause of its failure to create the colonial subjects "of their dreams." Forexample, it was suggested that instead of producing cooperative citizens, "thepresent picture is one of ferment and conflict in which the individual, muchmore than in the past,

sees himself and his private interests evermore clearly,and society and his duties to it as something outside himself, demanding andfrustrating."70 British officials in Nigeria consistently complained thatproducts of the existing school system were generally disrespectful to colonialauthority and generally discourteous toward the traditional elders. LordFrederick Lugard, the first governor of Nigeria, who was by no means aprofound thinker or intellectual, despised the products of the colonial schoolsystem. Lord Lugard frequently drew attention to the negative commentsabout them, and agreed that they were usually "unreliable, lacking in integrity,self-control, and discipline and without respect for authority of any kind."71

Other advocates of adaptation such as Lord Lugard's deputy, C. L. TempleA. Mayhew, the joint-secretary of the Advisory Committee on NativeEducation, Sir Percy Nunn, Professor of Education at the University ofLondon, and a member of the Advisory Committee on Native Education inTropical Africa, often defended the colonial educational system. Forexample, J. H. Driberg, who became lecturer in ethnology at Cambridge

University after serving for several years in the colonies, argued that the"native" needed knowledge and skills in two crucial areas.The two most important things are the maintenance of life and the perpetuation of hisspecies. He has therefore to have a thorough knowledge of all the economic activities ofhis tribe and of all the circumstances which may affect them, such as insects or other pests,the seasons (which introduce him to astronomy), his physical environment. ... As a

member of society, he must know its laws and regulations and the way in which it isorganised.72

In an address to the British Commonwealth Education Conference held inJuly 1931, Sir Percy Nunn argued that, instead of chemistry, physics, and

mechanics, the African must be taught biology because "the operation ofbiological laws?especially micro-biology laws is ever present to him. ... Ifyou ask many teachers in this country what they understand by biology, theyanswer that they believe it has something to do with sex teaching. Let us getthis idea out oif our heads when considering the significance of biology inAfrica."73 A. Mayhew suggested that certain subjects (which he did not name),could be eliminated from the list included in the school examinations. Heexplained that "in tropical Africa or the Pacific we have for the most part


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280 The Journal of African American History

primitive races that seem at present to have but little to contribute, and thatmust undergo long years of patient work before they can effectivelyassimilate the best that we can offer. . . "74As early as 1930, the director of education reported problems of

unemployment among Nigerians with certificates of British examinationboards, and admitted that only a small proportion could find the clericalemployment that they desired. As a result, a large number of candidates werein search of clerical or similar occupations in various parts of the country.The director added that the candidates were "suffering from a legitimategrievance if they are not employed." In September 1932 at the meeting ofthe Advisory Committee on Native Education in Tropical Africa, Sir MichaelSadler evoked "the danger of an academic proletariat." The members drew theattention of the colonial officials to the possibility of the overproduction ofthese "colonial graduates."75 W. R. McLean argued that "unless the product ofuniversity training, or indeed of any higher training, can be employed in theDependency, it is probably a political as well as an economic error for thelocal administration to provide uncontrolled facilities for such training, andfor the granting of British External degrees locally to native students."76It appears that by the early 1930s there was considerable irritation,perhaps anger, among

colonial officials over the growing number of qualifiedAfricans who demonstrated their competence and training by passing theexternal examinations, but who were deliberately excluded from thegovernance and administration of their native land.77

CONCLUSIONAdaptation was clearly a product of the fear of colonial officials whobelieved that the new African leaders were a threat to continued colonial

occupation of Africa, and the domination of the skilled labor market by thecolonizers. The criticism of African secondary school graduates therefore wasa convenient invention of the colonial officials who wished to maintain theirposition of authority. But the larger question is whether or not real"adaptation" was possible under the colonial system. Colonialism was

dominating and alienating and denied the subject peoples freedom of choice orinput in the planning and implementation of policies that affected them.Imperial officials had no respect for the views of the colonized, and theschools were designed, not to meet the needs and aspirations of the indigenous

population, but those of their colonizers. The colonial system did notfunction for the good of the colonized, who desired economic, social, andpolitical development.In addition, the original concept of "adaptation" had an underlying racistassumption. Even the European supporters of adaptation concluded that theimported educational system had produced only "questionable" colonialsubjects, but often failed to acknowledge that the secondary schools produced


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A Study of the Education Adaptation Strategy in British Colonial Africa, 1910-1936 281graduates who went on to become efficient clerks, surgeons, journalists,learned ministers of religion, powerful barristers, and Nigerian patriots.Perhaps it was convenient for some biased colonial officials to brand these"promising" graduates also as potential agitators and ne'er-do-wells. At thesame time, there was a very strong suspicion among Nigerians that they wereconsidered incapable of mastering English education, and this explains theirresistance to "adapted" education. As one Nigerian nationalist sniped, "Whatis good for the goose must be good for the gander! "And this determination toresist adaptation was clearly reflected in Nnamdi Azikiwe's advice to Nigerianyouth who wanted to begin higher studies.

There is no achievement whichIs possible to human beings whichIs not possible toAfricans.Your studies of Logic should

Lead to the correct conclusions.Therefore go forth, thouSons of Africa, and returnHome ladenwith theGolden Fleece.78

Writing in 1930, Adeyemo Alakija, then a student of Oxford University,admitted that there was chaos in the Nigerian educational system because "theAfrican could not avoid attempting to imitate the European [and] theEuropean did not think it his duty to study the African's national institutions.He would modernise the African and advance his mode of life from theEuropean point of view."79 But Alakija challenged any plan to provide substandard education for Africans because that would be based on Europeanconceptions of the African as mentally deficient. In his opinion, "Africansare not to be a nation of clerks without a future." As part of his education,the African must be exposed to foreign influences and ideas. And he asked,"Should we say that the African ceases to be African because he finds itmoreconvenient to discard his gabardine for the Bond Street style?"80

By the 1920s it was clear that the indigenous African population hadbecome highly suspicious of the intentions of the various educational"commissions" that had sought to "adapt" what they considered to be anadequate educational program to meet the needs of colonial subjects. Many ofthe educated African elites had been angered by the various recommendations,which they believed would produce only second-rate scholars unprepared to goon to the university or other institutions of higher learning. The context inwhich the adapted education system was introduced did not foster partnershipbetween the colonizers and the "natives." In fact, adapted schooling wasimposed on the indigenous people, and was strongly resisted by many. AsWhitehead has aptly put it:


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282 The Journal of African American HistoryBritish models were certainly followed but not because they were deliberately imposedon colonial schools, but rather because Africans and other colonial subjects insisted onthem. Anything less would have been considered second rate. It was for this reason thatthe policy of adaptation, so popular with colonial educators in the interwar years, failed.Africans, in particular, wanted a carbon copy of British education and qualificationsacceptable for admission to British universities and University of London externaldegrees. A study of the classics may have made little practical sense in tropical Africa, butLatin and Greek were part of the European educational gold standard to which Africansaspired.81

Perhaps another reason Africans resisted adaptation was because theywere not allowed to make the decision themselves. As R. J. Mason, acontemporary observer, put it, "I think . . . that a successful adaptation canbe made only by Africans themselves. An alien people, and a ruling one,however well-intentioned it may be, can only take another people so faralong the road. Thereafter, they must find their own way, seeking suchguidance as they themselves feel the need."82 We should also point out thateven the nations that had exported educational models to the colonies had toembark on reforms at various points, as is evident in the important changesin the curriculum, educational systems, and accreditation strategies inEuropean and other developed countries.83It is important to note that most of the educated elite that began tostruggle to attain independence from British colonial rule were not those whohad the advanced education of the "unadapted" type found outside Africa. Infact, many African nationalists grew up while the "adapted" version ofeducation was being encouraged. The frustrations of the limited education andthe fear and suspicion sown in the minds of the young people who wentthrough the experiment blossomed into a rejection of the colonial apparatus,including the educational programs it generated.84

Perhaps we should add that there was scant willingness to use education toprepare Africans for leadership, independent thinking, confidence building,and assertiveness. Character building, self-assurance, and the capacity to workwith others were not priorities. Nor was the system equipped to cope with theissues of ethnicity and class, national identity, social justice, or equity andequality of access to advanced training. Certainly, these educational programswere not geared toward finding solutions to the problems of hunger, poverty,technological backwardness, or the challenges of democratic governance.85Yet these should have constituted the basis for genuine educationaladaptation.

NOTESI am grateful to the staff and authorities of the National Archives, Ibadan, Nigeria; the Cambridge UniversitySyndicate of Local Examinations, Cambridge; the Oxford University Delegacy of Local Examinations,

Oxford; Rhodes House Library, Oxford; the University of London Senate House Library, London; theMissionary Societies of Great Britain and Ireland, London; the Institute of Historical Research, London; theInstitute of Education, London; and the University of Ibadan in Nigeria for giving me access to their richcollection of materials on this subject. I am also grateful for the assistance provided by the Information


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A Study of the Education Adaptation Strategy in British Colonial Africa, 1910-1936 283Service of the Caxton Publishing Company, London; and to the University of London authorities forpermission to quote from the University Senate Minutes. Iwish to acknowledge the contribution of Dr. MercyEtte, and the constructive comments of Professor V. P. Franklin and the anonymous reviewers of this work.

See Clive Whitehead, "The Historiography of British Imperial Education Policy, Part II: Africa and the Restof the Colonial Empire," History of Education [England] 34 (July 2005): 441-54; Kenneth King, PanAfricanism and Education: a Study of Race Philosophy and Education in the Southern States of America andEast Africa (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971), Peter Kallaway, "Colonial Education in Natal: The ZwaartkopsGovernment Industrial Native School 1888 to 1892," Perspectives in Education 10 (Summer 1987): 17-33;Carol Summers, "Educational Controversies: African Activism and Educational Strategies in SouthernRhodesia, 1920-1934," Journal of Southern African Studies 20 (March, 1994): 3-25, Henry D'Souza,"External Influences on the Development of Educational Policy in British Tropical Africa from 1923 to 1939,"

African Studies Review, 18/2 (1975), 35-43; D. G. Schilling, "British Policy for African Education in Kenya1895-1939," Ph.D. thesis, University of Wisconsin, 1972; Trevor Coombe, "The Origins of Secondary

Education in Zambia," Afncan Social Research, 3 (June 1967): 173-205; 4 (December 1967): 283-315; and 5(June 1968): 365-405; and Penelope Hetherington, British Paternalism inAfrica, 1920-1940 (London, 1978).For discussion on the subject see Jacob Ade Ajayi, Christian Missions inNigeria, 1841-1891: The Making ofaNew Elite (Evanston, IL, 1965); E. A. Ayandele, The Missionary Impact onModern Nigeria (London, 1966);F. K. Ekechi, Missionary Enterprise and Rivalry in Igboland, 1857-1914 (London, 1972); C. K. Graham, The

History of Education inGhana from Earliest Times to theDeclaration of Independence (London, 1971).See A. A. Adeyinka, "The Development of Secondary Grammar School Education in Nigeria," M.Ed.

Thesis, University of Ibadan, 1974; A. A. Fajana, Education inNigeria, 1842-1939, An Historical Analysis(Lagos, Nigeria, 1972); Jacob Ade Ajayi, "The Development of Secondary Grammar School Education in

Nigeria," Journal of theHistorical Society ofNigeria 2 (No. 3, 1963): 517-35.Ajayi, Christian Missions inNigeria, 1841-1891.Some of the comprehensive accounts on this subject are available in Helen Kitchen, ed., The Educated

African: A Country-by-Country Survey of Educational Development inAfrica (New York, 1962); L. J. Lewis,Society, Schools and Progress inNigeria (London, 1965); Peter C. Lloyd, ed., The New Elites of TropicalAfrica (London, 1966); Kristin Mann, Marrying Well: Marriage, Status and Social Change Among theEducated Elite inColonial Lagos (Cambridge, MA, 1985).

Andrew Paterson, "'The Gospel of Work Does Not Save Souls': Conceptions of Industrial and AgriculturalEducation for Africans in the Cape Colony, 1890-1930," History of Education Quarterly 45 (Fall 2005): 377404.nThe African American community in the United States had shared a similar experience of investing ineducation in response to the neglect by the state and local officials to provide equal or adequate funding forall-black or predominantly black public schools. For a comprehensive story of the experience in the UnitedStates, see V. P. Franklin, "Introduction: Cultural Capital and African American Education" The Journal of

African American History, 87 (Spring 2002); 175-218; and "They Rose or Fell Together. African AmericanEducators and Community Leadership, 1795-1954," Journal of Education 172 (1990); 36-64; and V. P.Franklin and Carter Julian Savage, eds., Cultural Capital and Black Education: African American Communitiesand theFunding of Black Schools, 1865 to the Present (Information Age Publications 2004).

For a useful discussion on the origins of secondary schools in Nigeria, their locations, school enrollment,student background, and retention rates, see Adeyinka, The Development of Secondary Grammar SchoolEducation inNigeria; Fajana, Education inNigeria, 1842-1939; and Ajayi, "The Development of SecondaryGrammar School," 517-35.QFor some useful discussion on the subject, see Philip Foster, Education and Social Change in Ghana(Chicago, IL, 1965); Leonard James Lewis, An Outline and Chronological Table of the Development ofEducation inBritish West Africa (London [n.d]); and Colin Wise, A History of Education inBritish West Africa(London, 1957).

See N. Omenka, The School in the Service of Evangelisation: The Catholic Education Impact inEasternNigeria, 1886-1950 (Leiden, Netherlands, 1989); F. K. Ekechi, "Colonization and Christianity inWest Africa:The Igbo Case, 1900-1915," Journal of African History 12 , (No. 1, 1971); M. McLean, "A Comparative Studyof Assimilationist and Adaptationist Education Policies in British Colonial Africa, 1925-1953," University ofLondon, Ph.D. dissertation, 1978; and Fajana, Education inNigeria, 1842-1939.

Among the helpful studies on the subject are Yoshiko Namie, "The Role of the University of LondonColonial Examinations Between 1900 and 1939, with Special Reference to Mauritius, the Gold Coast andCeylon," London University Institute of Education, Ph.D. dissertation, 1989; and Michael Omolewa, "The


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284 The Journal of African American HistoryPromotion of London University Examinations inNigeria, 1887-1951," The Internationaljournal of African

Historical Studies 13 (No. 4, 1980): 651-71; and "Cambridge University Local Examinations Syndicate andthe Development of Secondary Education inNigeria, 1910-1926," Journal of theHistorical Society of Nigeria8 (No. 4, 1977): 111-30.12There is a comprehensive introduction to the work of the University of Cambridge Local ExaminationsSyndicate (UCLES) at the (UCLES) Archives, One Hundredth Annual Report to the University of Cambridge,(Cambridge, Eng., 1958).11JMichael Omolewa, "Oxford University Delegacy of Local Examinations and Secondary Education in

Nigeria, 1929-1937," Journal of Educational Administration and History 10 (No.l, 1978): 39-49.J. Roach, Public Examinations inEngland, (London, 1971).

A. B. Fafunwa, History of Education inNigeria (London, 1974), 193.1"Angela Little, "The Role of Examinations in the Promotion of the 'Paper Qualification Syndrome,'" inInternational Labour Office; Paper Qualification Syndrome (PQS) and Unemployment of School Leavers: AComparative Regional Study, Jobs and Skills Programme for Africa (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 982), 177.17Mary E. Dillard, "Examinations Standards, Educational Assessments, and Globalization Elites: The Case ofthe West African Examinations Council," The Journal of African American History 88 (Fall 2003): 413-28.

For some discussion on this subject, see L. J. Lewis, Society, Schools, and Progress inNigeria (Oxford,1965); M. Read, Education and Social Change in Tropical Africa (London, 1955); Kenneth King, Pan

Africanism and Education: A Study of Race Philosophy and Education in the Southern States of America andEast Africa (Oxford, Eng., 1971).F. Lugard, The Dual Mandate inBritish Tropical Africa (Edinburgh, Scotland, 1922), especially the sectionon "Education."See Thomas Jesse Jones, Education inAfrica: A Study of West, South and Equatorial Africa by the AfricanEducation Commission (New York, 1922), 67; and Lewis, Society, Schools, and Progress inNigeria.21Jones, Education inAfrica.22Clive Whitehead, "The Advisory Committee on Education in the [British] Colonies 1924-1961,"

Paedagogica Hist?rica 27 (No. 3, 1991): 385-421.Colonial Office, Educational Policy in British Tropical Africa, "Memorandum by the Advisory Committeeon Native Education in the British Tropical African Dependences," His Majesty's Stationary Office (HMSO)Cmd. 2374, 1925.

24M. Perham, Lugard, The Years of Authority, 1898-1945 (London, 1960), 661.25W. Ormsby-Gore, "Research and Experiment in Overseas Education," Overseas Education 1 (No. 1,October 1929): 2.

See E. A. Ukong-Ibekwe, "On the Study of Vernacular Languages," Nigerian Teacher 1 (No. 4, 1935): 32.77Whitehead, "The Historiography of British Imperial Education Policy," 442.2 Copies of the correspondence between the Colonial Office and the universities are included in theMatriculation and School Examinations Council Report submitted to the University of London Senate in 1935and 1936, and discussed in those two years. See University of London Senate Minutes (hereafter, SM), 193536.29Ibid.30Ibid.

Archives of the Missionary Society of Great Britain and Ireland (hereafter, MSG), Box 225. Minutes of themeeting of the Advisory Committee on Native Education in Tropical Africa, 9 September 1932.

SM, 1935-36. The topics that were added for the English language paper included: "The Value of ReadingFiction," "Your Favourite Author or Character," "Rain," "Wild Flowers," "The Forest," "Native Salutations andGreetings," "The Choice of Career for an. Educated African," "The Good and Bad Characteristics of NativeReligions."33SM (18 October 1922), 314. The Oxford Delegacy followed the example of London University andintroduced Yoruba as an optional subject for Nigerian candidates in 1929. The Cambridge University LocalExaminations Syndicate began, by special arrangement from December 1936, to conduct specialexaminations for West African candidates. In December of that year, the Cambridge University LocalExaminations Syndicate titled its examinations "Special School Certif?cate for West Africa and the Bahamas."34SM (24 February 1926), 2293.35Ibid.


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A Study of the Education Adaptation Strategy in British Colonial Africa, 1910-1936 28536Ibid.37SM (19 November 1930), 802.

8For a comprehensive discussion on this subject, see P. S. Zachernuk, "African History and Imperial Culturein Colonial Nigerian Schools," Africa 68 (No. 4, 1998): 484-505.See J.M. Welch, "Schools and Community Service in a Backward Area," Overseas Education, 3 (October

1931): 11.40T. R. Batten, Past and Present, (London, 1943), iii.41B. Mathews, Black Treasure: The Youth of Africa in a Changing World (New York, 1928), 109. See also,W. R. Crocker, Nigeria: A Critique of British Colonial Administration (London, 1936), 15; and compare theobservation by Sir Philip Mitchell: "And so at the end of the last century, within the vast region enclosed by thecoast of Africa, with its widely spaced forts, towns, and settlements of people from other countries, boundedon the north by the Nigerian Emirates, the Sahara, the Nile . . . , and the Abyssinian massif, the West founditself in control of millions of people who had never adopted an alphabet or even any form of hieroglyphic

writing. They had no numerals, no almanac or Calendar, no notation of time or measurements of length,capacity, or weight, no currency, no external trade except slaves ... no plough, no wheel, and no means oftransportation except human head porterage on land and dugout canoes on rivers and lakes. These people hadbuilt nothing, nothing of any kind inmaterial more durable than mud, poles and thatch. . . ."; quoted in J. F.Ade Ajayi, "The Continuity of African Institutions under Colonialism," inEmerging Themes of African History,ed. T. O. Ranger (Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, 1968), 190-91.

ZK. C. Murray was a tutor with the Department of Education inNigeria in 1931. For his observation on theSyndicate's Art Examinations, see K. C. Murray, "Arts and Crafts inWest Africa," Overseas Education 5(October 1933): 4.

Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate, One Hundredth Annual Report to the University of Cambridge,1958, University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES) Archives.4 The group classifications are as follows:

Compulsory SubjectEnglish LanguageGroup I:English Literature, Religious KnowledgeGroup II:Latin, Greek, French, German, Spanish, ItalianOther Languages (Yoruba, Hausa, or any other approved language)Group III:Elementary Mathematics, Additional MathematicsGeneral Science, Physics, Chemistry, BiologyChemistry, Botany, Hygiene and PhysiologyHistoryGeographyMechanicsPhysicsGroup IV:Art, Music, Handicraft, Technical Drawing, Housecraft

Cambridge University Syndicate of Local Examinations, Annual Report for 1936, UNCLES, Archives.For a full discussion of this subject, see Michael Omolewa, "The Teaching of French and German in

Nigerian Schools, 1859-1960," Cahiers d'Etudes Africaines, 18 (No. 3, 1978): 379-96; and "The Ascendancyof English inNigeria Schools 1882-1960," West African Journal ofModern Languages (No. 3, 1978): 152-66.See, Eric Ashby, in association with Mary Anderson, Universities: British, Indian, African: A Study in the

Ecology ofHigher Education (Cambridge, MA, 1966).4x J. A. Majasan, "Yoruba Education: Its Principles, Practices and Relevance to Current EducationalDevelopment," Ph.D. dissertation, University of Ibadan, 1967; O. Ikejiani, ed., Nigerian Education (Lagos,

1964).49Department of Education, Nigeria, Memorandum on Educational Policy inNigeria (Lagos, 1947).

J. R. Bunting, "Certificates and Education," West African Journal of Education 2 (October 1958): 100.51J. A. O. Odebiyi, "The Aims of Secondary Education in Western Nigeria," West African Journal ofEducation 1 (June 1967): 43.


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286 The Journal of African American History52 It is particularly interesting to note that the British examinations boards were not influenced by thearguments advanced by

the colonial officials on the need to ask African candidates questionson African

tribal tales such as the artful antelope and the strong and sometimes stupid lion, or those on "witchcraft" and"superstition." Perhaps the examiners did not consider such topics of educational importance, or probablyrecognized witchcraft as a universal phenomenon, that the fear of "the power of the evil eye" is as old as

man, and that many of the "pagan" practices in Africa had their origins in ancient beliefs of the Greeks andRomans. Ay ?ndele notes that Mungo Park, the great British explorer, fervently believed in magic andsuperstition. E. Ayandele, African Exploration and Human Understanding: The Mungo Park Bi-CentenaryMemorial Lecture, (Edinburgh, Scotland, 1971).JOW. Ormsby-Gore, "Educational Problems of the Colonial Empire," Journal of the Royal African Society 36(April 1937): 165.

Sir John McNeil, "Competitive Examinations," The Quarterly Review 108 (October 1860): 569.Sir John Lubbock, "On the Present System of Public School Education, with Special Reference to the

Recent Regulations of the Oxford and Cambridge School Examinations Board," Contemporary Review 27(January 1876): 168.

Henry D'Souza, "External Influences on the Development of Education Policy in British Tropical Africafrom 1923 to 1939," The African Studies Review 18 (September 1975): 36. For an examination of theintroduction of a form of "adapted education" into separate black secondary and normal schools in the South,see James D. Anderson, The Education of Blacks in the South, 1860-1935 (Chapel Hill, NC, 1988), 33-78.57D'Souza, "External Influences on the Development of Education Policy," 37.58Charles T. Loram, The Education of the South African Native (London, 1917), 146.59See Andrew Paterson, "The Gospel of Work Does Not Save Souls," 377.60 Anderson, The Education of Blacks in the South, 33-88; Zachernuk, "African History and Imperial CultureinColonial Nigerian Schools," 487-488.

Edward H. Berman, "American Influence on African Education: The Role of the Phelps-Stokes Fund's1920 African Education Commission," Comparative Education Review 15 (June 1971): 145.

62Ibid.Edward H. Berman, "Christian Missions in Africa" in African Reactions toMissionary Education (New

York, 1975), 10.64E. A. Ayandele, The Educated Elite in theNigerian Society (Ibadan, Nigeria, 1974).

Ibid. Edward Berman believes that the Commission was also handicapped because it chose to work withJ. E. K Aggrey, who was "little known" outside the United States; see "American Influence on AfricanEducation," 143-45; and Sylvia M. Jacobs, "James Emman Kwegyir Aggrey: An African Intellectual in theUnited States," The Journal of Negro History 80 (Spring-Fall 1996): 47-61.66See, Colonial Office List, "Report on Nigeria," 1910-20, National Archives, Ibadan.67E. A. Speed to Lord Lugard, 3 July 1914, Manuscripts of the British Empire (Mss. Brit. Emp.) 8. 74, RhodesHouse Library, Lord Fredrick Lugard Papers, Oxford, England."Martin Carnoy, Education and Cultural Imperialism (New York, 1974); see also, A. Fajana, "ColonialControl and Education: The Development of Higher Education in Nigeria, 1900-1950," Journal of the

Historical Society of Nigeria 6 (December 1972): 323-40. B. O. Oloruntimehin notes that during this periodthe French were also debating the need for "adaptation" in the education of their colonial subjects for similarreasons. For a discussion on French colonial education, see B. O. Oloruntimehin, "Education for Colonial

Dominance in French West Africa from 1900 to the Second World War," Journal of theHistorical Society ofNigeria 7 (June 1974): 347-56.69Ben N. Azikiwe, "How Shall We Educate the African?" Journal of the African Society, 33 (April 1934),144.

Walter R. Miller, Have We Failed inNigeria? (London, 1947), 3. This was the broad view of the colonialeducation officers, with few exceptions. See, for example, Hans N. Weiler, ed., Erziehung und Politike en

Nigeria (Education and Politics inNigeria) (Freiburg, Switzerland, 1964).7Frederick Lugard, The Dual Mandate in British Tropical Africa, 5th Edition, with a new introduction byMargery Perham (London, 1965), 428.72J. H. D?berg, At Home with the Savage (London, 1932), 234-35.

Address delivered at the British Commonwealth Education Conference on July 27, 1931, by Sir PercyNunn. For the report of the proceedings of this conference and the text of Sir Percy's address, see OverseasEducation 3 (October 1931): 1-11.


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A Study of the Education Adaptation Strategy in British Colonial Africa, 1910-1936 287A. Mayhew, Education in the Colonial Empire (London, 1938), 3.E. R. J. Hussey, Memorandum on Educational Policy inNigeria (London, 1930).7 W. H. McLean, Memorandum on Colonial Education Institutions (London, 1932) in box 225, MSG77 Andrew Paterson has noted that in South Africa, "white labour began to express concern over the potential

challenge from equally qualified and competitive black workers, fears that influenced the introduction of the'JobColor Bar' in 1920"; see Paterson, "The Gospel of Work Does Not Save Souls," 382.78 Letter toMbonu Ojike, quoted in F. K. Ekechi, Missionary Enterprise and Rivalry in Igboland 1857-1914(London, 1972), 188. Dr. W. E. B. Du Bois, the Pan-Africanist and intellectual, also had a similar message

when he stressed that "we will fight for all time against any proposal to educate black boys and girls simply asservants and underlings, or simply for the use of other people"; quoted in Ajayi, "The Development ofSecondary Grammar School Education in Nigeria," fn.2.79 O. A. Alakija. "The African Must Have Western Education," Elders Review (July 1930), 94.80Ibid, 95.8Whitehead, "The Historiography of British Imperial Education Policy," 448.82R. J.Mason, British Education inAfrica (London, 1959), 137

3The international community and organizations have also been interested in the subject of relevance andquality of education as demonstrated by the work of UNESCO with the publication of the report of theCommission chaired by Edgar Faure in the 1960s; and later in mid-1990s the report of the InternationalCommission on Education for the Twenty-first Century, chaired by Jacques Delors, former French Minister ofEconomy and Finance and President of the Commission of the European Community. See, Edgar Faure,Learning To Be (Paris, 1972); and J. Delors, Learning: The Treasure Within (Paris, 1998).84Commenting on the reaction of Nigerians to the establishment of Yaba Higher College, Lagos, a model ofan adapted higher education program, Festus Ogunlade states that "The educated elite protested against thestatus of the college, which was below the rank of a university. They argued that its training would be inferiorto what would be obtained in overseas universities and "would confer inferior status on products of theinstitution." Nationalists suspected that the government's motives in making the college of sub-universitystandard was a trap to keep Nigerians in inferior jobs under European specialists, thus postponing the day

Nigeria would eventually control its industry"; see F. Ogunlade, "Yaba Higher College and the Formulation ofan Intellectual Elite," M.A. Thesis, University of Ibadan, 1970, 2. A full discussion on this subject is availablein Clive Whitehead, Colonial Educators, The British Indian and Colonial Education Service 1858-1983(London, 2003); Fajana, Education in Nigeria, 1842-1939; Omenka, "The School in the Service of

Evangelisation," and Otonti Nduka, "Western Education and the Nigerian Cultural Background."oc For a well-written account of the educational reforms and changes in Britain, see Brian Simon, Educationand the Social Order, 1940-99 (London, 1991).

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