This document discusses the history of Christian missionary education in Nigeria between the 19th and 20th centuries. It outlines the objectives of the lecture, which are to discuss the factors that led Europeans to enter Africa, the activities of early Christian missionaries, and their contributions to Nigerian education despite problems. The first section summarizes the reasons for European entry as related to industrialization and the slave trade. It then discusses the first unsuccessful missionary experiment in the 15th century and more successful efforts in the 19th century when various missions established schools in the south. While missionary education faced issues like a lack of standards and financing, it ultimately helped introduce literacy, facilitate local language orthographies, and contribute to eradicating harmful practices in Nigeria.

1. EDU 1203
HISTORY OF NIGERIAN EDUCATION

2. CHRISTIAN MISSION EDUCATION
19TH AND 20TH CENTURIES

3. OBJECTIVES
At the end of this lecture, you should be able to:
 Discuss the factors that led to the entry of Europeans to
Africa
 Discuss the first missionary experiment in the 15th century
 Discuss the activities of the early Christian missionaries in
the 19th century
 Explain why Christian missionary education did not succeed
in Northern Nigeria.
 State the philosophy of Christian mission education
 Mention the problems of Christian mission education
 Discuss the contributions of Christian mission education to
Nigerian education.

4. Activity one
 What do you understand by the term
industrial revolution?
 Identify at least three features of the era.
 What do you know about slave trade?
 Form a group of six
 Brainstorm on the above questions and share
your ideas with the class.

5. Reasons for European entry to
Africa
 Industrial revolution of the 18th century made
it necessary for Europeans to look for markets
to buy raw materials and to sell their
manufactured products.
 The need to suppress the trans – Atlantic
slave trade.
 Europeans were interested in creating a new
markets for Europe in Africa.

6. The first missionary
experiment:
 Started in the late 15th century
 Some Catholic missionaries set
up a school in the Oba’s palace
in the year 1515.
 The effort was stalled by slave
trade

7. Missionary efforts in the 19th
century
 Freed slaves that were settled in Sierra Leone
found their way back to Abeokuta, their
ancestral home.
 Their people were thrilled by the stories
about white man’s lifestyle told by the freed
slaves.
 Egba people appealed for western education
because they wanted to experience white
man’s way of life .

8. Missionary activities contd
 Wesleyan Methodist Mission sent Rev.
Thomas Freeman to Badagry in 1842
 In 1845 HenryTownsend together with Mr.
and Mrs. Samuel Ajayi Crowther of the
Church Missionary Society (C.M.S)
established two schools in Badagry.
 In 1846, Rev. Hope MastertonWaddell of the
Church of Scotland Mission established Hope
WaddellTraining Institute in Calabar

9. contd
 Baptist mission in 1850 opened schools at
Lagos, Saki, Igboho and Ilorin.
 Roman Catholic Church started their
missionary activities in Lagos in 1868.
 Qu Iboe mission founded a school at Old
Calabar in 1878.
 Methodist Mission Society established its
influence in Calabar and Owerri in 1892.

10. Christian mission in Northern
Nigeria
Christian mission education did not succeed in
Northern Nigeria for these reasons:
 The sea made the South more accessible for the
missionaries than the North.
 There was already in existence an organised
system of education in the North.
 The Fulani Jihad was heading towards the South
at the same time the missionaries were heading
towards the North.
 The colonial masters were trying to consolidate
their conquests so they did not allow the
missionaries to come up the north.

11. contd
 The missionaries managed to introduce
Christianity to non – Muslims in the North.
 They established a mission at Lokoja in 1865
 Their requests to the colonial government to
establish a school in Kano was turned down.
 In 1908, HansVischer was mandated to
organise a government controlled education
system for the North.

12. contd
 In the 1909, a government school was
established at Nassarawa in Kano.
 The following year, a department of education
for the Northern province was established.
 By 1913, the Nassarawa school expanded to two
elementary, one primary and one secondary
school, and one technical school.
 Katsina College was opened in 1921.
 Teacher training colleges for elementary school
teachers were opened in Bauchi and Katsina in
1927.

13. Philosophy of Christian
Missionary education
 To convert the heartens to the
Christian faith.
 To make the converts to be
literate so that they can read
the Bible and serve and
interpreters, clerks and
messengers.

14. Curriculum
 English language
 Arithmetic
 Religious knowledge
 Writing
 Dictation
 Moral instruction
 Drawing
 Singing

15. Problems of early Mission
schools
 No standards for running the schools.
 No standard qualifications for teachers
 Emphasis was on converting the pupils to
Christianity.
 There was inadequate finance.
 There were no trained teachers and no
teacher training colleges.
 No common syllabus and standard
textbooks.

16. contn
 Lack of adequate supervision.
 There was no central examination system.
 There was no uniform condition of service for
teachers.
 Rote – learning was the common method of
teaching.
 There were no regulations guiding movement
of teachers and pupils in and out of the
school.

17. Contributions of Christian
missions to Nig. Edu
 They prepared the ground forWestern education in Nigeria.
 They introduced literacy especially in the southern part of
Nigeria.
 They facilitated the orthography of indigenous languages
in Nigeria. For example, Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther
translated the Bible into theYoruba language.
 The English language which they introduced is now being
used as the official language in Nigeria. This makes
communication and interaction easier among the many
ethnic groups in Nigeria.
 They contributed towards eradication of negative and
harmful practices like human sacrifice, killing of twins, Osu
caste system.

18. Summary
 Christian missionaries made their first,
unsuccessful attempt in the 15th century.
 They made a more successful attempt in the 19th
century.
 They made frantic efforts to establish their
missions and schools in southern Nigeria.
 Their main goal was to convert people to
Christianity.
 They did not succeed much in the North.
 Christian mission education was faced with
many problems

19. THANK YOU