INTRODUCTION

Nigerian educational system has gone through various developments and changes viz-a-viz curriculum issues. The dynamic nature of the curriculum process lead to the history of curriculum development for basic education in Nigeria. Analysis of the Nigerian education sector reveals the challenges of incoherence in policy Formulation and implementation. The selection and organization of curriculum content, curriculum implementation and evaluation, the development, distribution and use of teaching materials, and the relevance of the curriculum to the needs of society Therefore, the need for transformation in curriculum for all the educational levels becomes necessary.

THE MISSIONARY CURRICULUM, 1842-1882

The history of curriculum development in Nigeria was the arrival of the Christian Missions towards the end of the first half of the nineteenth century, followed closely by the Establishment of missionary schools and the teaching of the Four R's. From the time of their arrival from September 1842, until 1882, the Christian Missions alone controlled the school curriculum in Nigeria. They alone opened,  maintained and controlled schools. They alone formulated the objectives, content and methods of teaching the subjects included in the curriculum of those schools. Basically, the schools provided instructions in the four R's: Reading, Writing, Arithmetic and Religion (Fajana, 1969). Apart from Badagry, Abeokuta and Lagos, where the missionaries opened their first set of primary schools, there were also primary schools in Ijaiye, Ogbomosho, Ibadan and later across the Niger in Calabar, opened through the joint efforts of the Christian missions and the local communities. The main objectives of the missionaries in opening these primary schools were to train teacher-catechists, lay-readers and cooks, particularly to give the new converts basic instructions in the English Language so that they could be more useful in the missionary work which was the missionaries' primary assignment in Nigeria. Apart from basic instructions in the four R's, therefore, the new converts were gradually initiated into British ways of life as they lived with their pastor-teachers. Although the missionaries intended to confine their activities initially to the provision of primary education, local adherents of the various Christian denominations agitated for the opening of secondary grammar schools in their respective local environments. These local demands led to the opening of the Church Missionary Society (C. M. S.) Grammar School, Lagos, in June 1859 and subsequently the Methodist Boys' High School, the Methodist Girls' High School and the Baptist Academy. Although these grammar schools were opened in response to local demands, the curriculum was controlled by the missionaries. The subjects offered included English Grammar and Composition, History, Geography, Bookkeeping, Euclid's Elements, Latin and Greek Grammar and Plain Treastises on Natural Philosophy. Hebrew and French were

taught from time to time, depending on the availability of teachers Moral Philosophy, Political Economy, Mythology and Antiquities, Chemistry, Physiology, Geology and Botany were also taught (Ajayi, 1963).

These subjects were selected from the list of subjects being taught in British Grammar Schools at that time (Adeyinka, 1983). Very little consideration was given to the future needs of the pupils, because this type of curriculum was considered adequate for the type of white-collar jobs that were normally available for the products of the early grammar schools. Thus, the British literary tradition was strictly followed in the early Nigerian grammar schools, so that training in agriculture or preparation for self-employment in other areas did not constitute an integral part of the early curriculum.

THE EARLY CURRICULUM/I AND THE IMPACT OF BRITISH EXAMINING BODIES, 1882 - 1925

The year 1882 was a landmark in the history of education in Nigeria, a major trend in the development of the curriculum, for it was from that year that the government began to show interest in the development of the school curriculum when it passed an Education Act which provided for a Board of Education to control the development of education at all levels in English speaking West African Countries. However, it was not until 1887, when the first Nigerian Education Act was passed, that a separate Board of Education was constituted for Nigeria. The Act provided for 'Assisted' and 'Non-Assisted' schools and invested in the Nigerian Board of Education the authority to control and direct the development of education in the country. All 'Assisted Schools' were qualified to receive government grants, worked out on the principle of 'payment by results' and subject to favorable inspection reports. The implication of this for curriculum development in Nigeria was that a majority of the schools, in an attempt to attract government grants, began to employ more qualified staff to teach most of the subjects available in the school curriculum of the time in order to record a higher percentage of passes in those subjects. Considerable emphasis was placed on the teaching of English and Arithmetic, two of the subjects required for employment in the civil service.

Up to 1909, the only external examination available to Nigerian Grammar-School candidates remained that of the College of Preceptors of London. The first recorded success of Nigerian candidates in that examination was in 1892, when Michael Cole and Simon Pratt of the C. M. S. Grammar School, Lagos, passed the examination with First Class Certificate. In December 1910, one year after the opening of the first Government Secondary School (King's College, Lagos), the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (U.-C. L. E.S.) created a centre for its local examinations in Lagos. Thus, King's College, Lagos, led other grammar schools in Nigeria in presenting candidates for Cambridge Local examinations. The fact that a colonial centre was created in Lagos at that time was of considerable significance in the history of education in Nigeria. Later, other grammar schools in the country soon followed the example of King's College with the result that in the years following 1910, growing numbers of school candidates consistently entered for the Cambridge Local Examinations. From the year 1910 when Cambridge Local Examinations were introduced into Nigeria, the Nigerian Secondary Grammar-School curriculum was to a large extent determined by the Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate, because these schools prepared their pupils for subjects normally examined by that body. occasionally taught in some secondary grammar schools in Nigeria. The curriculum of the primary school included writing and Dictation, Arithmetic, English, Grammar, English Composition, Religious Knowledge, History and Geography. Pupils were prepared for the Middle Four Examination organized by the Department of Education established in 1903. Most of the grammar schools of the time had primary departments. The teacher training institutions also followed an academic curriculum, but they combined this with pedagogical training. The Hope Waddell Training Institution, Calabar (opened in 1846), St. Andrew's College, Oyo (opened in 1896) and Wesley College, Ibadan (opened in 1905) provided instructions in the basic Arts subjects, Elementary Science, domestic duties and infant care and teacher education in general. Each of these institutions paid considerable attention to the teaching of Physical Training and Christian Religious Knowledge (Solaru, 1964), apparently to aid the physical and moral development of the students. While primary school pupils and students in teacher training colleges were locally examined at the end of their courses, secondary school pupils were consistently externally examined. Here lies the importance of the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate. However, the impact of U. C. L. E. S. during this period was more noticeable in the senior local examination, which became the School Certificate in 1923. This had a wide implication for the development of the curriculum of the senior classes of Nigerian Grammar Schools. Thus, the introduction of a new subject at the Senior Local (School Certificate) Examination consistency attracted positive responses from secondary grammar schools which immediately included this in their schools' curricular. For example, the introduction of Applied Mathematics, Experimental Science, Botany, Natural History of Animals, Needlework and Hygiene between 1916 and 1920 led to the inclusion of these subjects in the Nigerian grammar school Curriculum during these years. This was the situation in Nigeria at the time the Phelps-Stokes Commission Report was Published in 1925.

PHELPS-STOKES AND AFTER, 1925 — 1952

The main observation of the Phelps-Stokes Commission was that education in Nigeria was not adapted to the needs of the people (Lewis, 1962). This was because there was too much emphasis on the academic curriculum. The Nigerians in general preferred the academic curriculum to the technical or agricultural one because the past generations of pupils and students following it had used their qualifications as a ladder to the Universities and other higher institutions of learning, and in effect as a passport for attractive white-collar jobs. The commission therefore recommended that education in Nigeria should be adapted to the real needs of the people. Thus, in subjects like History, Geography, Biology and the like, emphasis should be on African countries rather than on European countries. Further, attempts should be made to train the masses on the one hand and local leaders on the other. The subsequent attempts by the colonial administration to provide technical and agricultural education were probably the results of a genuine acceptance of the Phelps-Stokes recommendations. But the truth was that the Nigerians themselves consistently clamored for more and more academic education of the Western type. In the same year, the Advisory Committee on Native Education in British Tropical Africa made a similar observation and recommended that the content and methods of teaching various subjects in the school curriculum should be adopted to suit African life and surroundings. Apart from these two influences, the Education Ordinance of 1926 exerted considerable influence on the development of the school curricula in Nigeria. The Ordinance, among other things, provided for the rapid growth of the schools' curricula through regular inspection of the subjects taught in the schools and the registration of teachers. Although the ordinance provided

for the revision of the grants-in-aid system, the system of ‘payment by results’ continued. With the

provision for regular inspection of the schools and the establishment of school committees charged with the responsibility for regularizing the educational activities of the schools, the continuation of the scheme of ‘payment by results’ meant that schools would continue to appoint, as much as possible, the best qualified teachers of each subject in the schools' so that their pupils could pass well in the examinations set in the various subjects and thereby qualify the schools for adequate grants-in-aid.

Another significant attempt by the Government to influence the development of the grammar-school curriculum was the directive it gave in 1930 that in every subject offered in Nigerian Secondary Schools, Form 1 should attain a standard equivalent to that required for a pass in the Cambridge University Preliminary Local Examination; that Form II should attain a standard equivalent to that required for a pass in the Cambridge Junior School Certificate Examination; Form IV that of the Cambridge School Certificate or London Matriculation Examination; and Form VI that of the Cambridge Higher School Certificate Examination..The result was that in spite of the observations and recommendations of the Phelps-Stokes Commission and the Advisory Committee, the content of formal education in Nigeria was still closely patterned along the British line as the British examining bodies continued to exert considerable influence on the grammar-school curriculum. While U. C. L. E. S. continued to make its local examinations available to school candidates in Nigeria throughout this period (as did the Oxford Delegacy during the years 1929 —1937) the University of London continued to make the London Matriculation Examination available to private candidates, including student-teachers from Wesley College (Ibadan), St. Andrew's College (Oyo) and Hope Waddell Training Institution (Calabar). In general, the primary school and teacher training curricula were similar to those of the preceding period. The implication of all these for curriculum development in Nigeria was that the grammar schools ultimately adopted the policy of preparing their pupils for the Cambridge School Certificate Examination and in doing this they gradually adopted the policy of teaching in their schools only those subjects that were being examined by U. C, L. E. S. from year to year. By

1952, therefore, most grammar schools in Nigeria included the following subjects in their curriculum and taught them up to the School Certificate level: English Language, English, Literature, Religious Knowledge, History, Geography, Latin, Elementary Mathematics, Additional Mathematics, General Science, Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Art and Technical Drawing.

 W. A. E.C. TO INDEPENDENCE 1952-1960

The West African Examinations Council (W. A. E. C.) was established in March 1952, following the recommendation of Dr. G. B. Jeffrey, Director of the Institute of Education, University of London, who had earlier been asked by the British Secretary of State for the Colonies to visit West Africa and advise on a proposal that a body of this kind should be established in that area. The Lagos office of the Council was opened at Yaba in September 1953. The major role of the W, A. E. C. in curriculum development during its early years of existence was that of inspecting schools for purposes of approving them and accepting their pupils as private candidates for Cambridge Overseas School Certificate (later West African School Certificate) Examination. This would normally encourage the grammar schools to teach the various subjects normally examined by the W. A. E. C. The establishment of the W. A. E. C. was therefore an event of considerable, perhaps over-riding, significance in curriculum development in Nigeria. Apart from the W. A. E. C., however, there were a number of other factors influencing the development of the schools' curriculum in Nigeria. The various regional ministries of education, for example, played an important role. In 1959, for example, the former Eastern Region revised its primary school curriculum for the First School Leaving Certificate Examination and also the Secondary School Syllabuses in English, History and Geography. Moves were also made to

revise the teacher training curriculum (Dike, 1959). The reason for this change was basically political. In preparation for political independence, which was promised for the following year (1960), the former Eastern Region realized the need to throw away part of the British-type academic curriculum and replace this with one that was more relevant to the needs of the people. Efforts were also made in other regions of the country to bring about changes in the education system.

INDEPENDENCE AND AFTER, 1960 TO DATE

Nigeria regained her independence on 1st October, 1960, a month after the submission of the Ashby Report. With specific reference to curriculum development, the Ashby Commission recommended the introduction of obligatory manual projects into secondary schools and the provision of different types of secondary school curricula, including commercial, vocational and agricultural courses. Further, the Commissioners recommended that both the pre-service and in-service training of teachers should be intensified. They also recommended the introduction of Advanced Teachers' Colleges, to be associated with Universities. In the Universities, a new undergraduate course, B. Ed. (also variously styled B. A. (Ed.) and B. Sc. (Ed.) should be introduced. The opening of Advanced Teachers’ Colleges at Ibadan, Ondo, Ilesha, Ikere-Ekiti, Ilorin, Ore and other areas in the country, and the introduction of B.Ed. courses in the Faculties of Education of Nigeria Universities (Ibadan, Lagos, Ife, Ilorin, ABU, Nsukka etc.) after independence are valid evidences that this aspect of the Ashby recommendations had been fully implemented. Apart from the Ashby Report, other documents do exist which tend to show the direction of curriculum development in Nigeria since independence. In the former Western Region, for example, both the Banjo Report (1961) and the Taiwo Report (1968) recommended the revision of the school syllabuses and the introduction of a new structure of education. The Banjo Report specifically recommended a new model for secondary education, comprising junior and senior secondary schools. The curriculum of the former should be comprehensive. This was partly the origin of the Aiyetoro Comprehensive School experiment started in 1963. The Taiwo Committee recommended that the primary-school curriculum should be overhauled and new syllabuses prepared in such subjects as Mathematics and Social Studies. Similar recommendations were made in the East (Dike 1959, Ivan Ikoku, 1964) Other bodies or factors that have influenced curriculum development in Nigeria since independence are: the Nigerian Educational Research Council (N. E. R. C.) the National Curriculum Conference (1969) and the National Policy on Education (1977; Revised in 1981). Although the N. E. R. C. was not formally established, by decree, until 1972, the move to establish the body had started since 1961 and it had in fact started to co-ordinate research activities in Nigeria since the 1960s. It was under the auspices of this body that the National Curriculum Conference was held in Lagos in 1969. The Conference called for a well-defined philosophy of education for Nigeria and suggested the principles that should guide the formulation of the objectives and curricula of primary, secondary, teacher and higher education in the country (Adaralegbe, 1972). The proceedings of the National Curriculum Conference provided the basis for the National Policy on Education (1977). With specific reference to curriculum development in Nigeria, the policy advocates a 6—3—3—4 system, and suggests that the junior secondary schools should operate a comprehensive curriculum, in preparation for specialization at the upper levels. During the year immediately following independence, the W. A. E. C. undertook a gradual revision of the School Certificate Syllabuses, especially in History, Mathematics, French, English Language and Literature (now Literature in English), Physics, Chemistry and Biology (W. A. C. E. VII/2 1964). It also increased the number of its examinable subjects. Secondary Schools in the country accordingly revised their own curricula. This gradually led to a swing of candidates from the traditional subjects to the new ones, and also to such science subjects as Physics, Chemistry and Biology, presumably because there are now better qualified teachers of this subject and better equipment for teaching them.

 CONCLUSION

In conclusion and general view, the missionaries controlled the Nigerian School Curricula between 1842 and 1882. And From the latter date, the Government gradually involved itself in the provision of education and in curriculum development. At first, government involvement start form grants to the missions and the promulgation of education ordinances and codes. Later, the government started to open its own schools, to take over existing schools and to establish Examination and Research Councils to regularize the school curriculum, and to set up commissions to advise it on curriculum innovations and development. Largely due to the efforts of the W. A. E. C. and the demands of the grammar schools, the number of examination subjects steadily increased over the years and new subjects were added so that such traditional subjects as History and Geography gradually attracted smaller proportions of candidates than the science subjects which are now apparently handled by more qualified teachers, using better and more reliable equipment.

REFERENCES

Adeyinka, A. A. (1983). A Study of the Place of History in the Evolution of the Nigerian Secondary

Grammar-School Curriculum. Cardiff: Ph. D. Thesis (Wales).

Ajayi, J. F. Ade (1963). ‘The Development of Secondary Gram mar-School

Education in Nigeria', journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria 2 (4),

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Eastern Nigeria (1959). The Dike Report on the Primary School Curricula.

Eastern Nigeria (1964). Report of the Conference on the Review of the Education System in

Eastern Nigeria (Alvan Ikoku Report). Enugu: Government Printer.

Good, Carter (1959). Dictionary of Education, New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co.

Lewis, L. J. (1962). Phelps-Stokes Report on Education in Africa. London: O. U. P.

Nigeria, Federal Ministry of Education (1960). Investment in Education: The Report of the

Commission on Post-School Certificate and Higher Education in Nigeria. (Ashby Report).

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