The Igbo and Educational Development in Nigeria, 1846 -2015

New International Webster"s Comprehensive Dictionary of the English Language conceives of education as "the systematic development and cultivation of the natural powers by inculcation" 1 .As an intellectual process, it involves the handing down or transmission or transfer of ideas and values from one generation to another. 2 Education is further seen as the aggregate of all the processes by which a child or young adult develops the abilities, attitudes and other forms of behaviour which are of positive value to the society in which the lives. 3It is thus a process for transmitting culture in terms of continuity and growth, and for disseminating knowledge either to ensure social control or guarantee rational direction of society or both.Seen in these prisms, education remains a veritable means of training the mind of an individual to enable him or her to acquire those skills and norms necessary for material, spiritual and cultural survival in his/her community or environment. 4om the foregoing, it is trite that education is a deliberate and conscious predilection and disposition; in fact a duty that society owes its young ones or offspring.Every society thus strives to evolve ways and means of inculcating the skills, ideas and values in its offspring so as to enable them function effectively both for their own benefits and that of the society.These conscious and deliberate inculcations, which invariably form part of the culture of the various communities and ethnic groups in what later became Nigeria, constituted traditional forms of education or what one may refer to as indigenous forms of education.Apart from the indigenous education mentioned above, two other educational traditions have flourished in Nigeria: Islamic/Koranic and Western type education.In this paper, we are concerned with the development of the Western type educational system among the Igbo of southeastern Nigeria.Our intension is to determine what impact this educational system has had on the developmental trajectory of the people and society, and how the compatriots of the Igbo have received or reacted to this development and scenario over the years. WESTERN EDUCATION IN IGBOLAND: THE EARLY PHASEIn considering the evolution of western type educational system, Igboland must be seen as an integral part of what was referred to as Eastern Nigeria, which as indicated earlier, formed part of the Colony Abstract:The Igbo inhabit what is presently referred to as South East Geopolitical zone in Nigeria.They also make up a sizeable chunk of the population of another geopolitical zone-South South.These areas were located in the colonial-inspired Oil Rivers Protectorate and the Colony and Protectorate of Southern Nigeria.Between 1906 and 1914, a Protectorate of Southern and Northern Nigeria stood side by side each other as the main administrative divisions of the colonial state.At the behest of the British Colonialists, a Western type and missionary-inspired educational system was introduced and accepted by the dominant ethnicities of Igbo and Yoruba of the Protectorate of Southern Nigeria; while the Hausa/Fulani Muslimdominated Protectorate of Northern Nigeria rejected this education.This paper aims to analyze the development of the Western type educational system in the South East geopolitical zone (Igbo Area) of the country over the years since its implantation.It also seeks to determine what strides and challenges that have attended this development, and how the compatriots of the Igbo have viewed and reacted to this trend.The paper relies mainly on documented secondary sources and the publications and findings of such educational regulatory agencies as the National Universities Commission (NUC) and the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), among others, to reach its conclusions.