KORANIC VERSUS CHRISTIAN MISSION EDUCATION SYSTEMS AND UNEVEN EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA, 1842-1977: NATIONAL POLICY ON EDUCATION TO THE RESCUE

 A.I. Ajayi and M.S. Jayeola-Omoyeni

Department of History, Adeyemi College of Education, Ondo, Nigeria

Department of Continuing Education, Adeyemi College of Education, Ondo,

E-mail: ajayi­­_gboyega@yahoo.com, jayeomoyeni5@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT

This paper discusses the extent to which Koranic and Christian mission education systems have interfaced since 1842 in the provision of education to citizens of Nigeria.  It would be recalled that Koranic education predated the Christian missionary education in the Northern part of Nigeria.  It was in 1842 precisely, that the Christian Missionary education referred to as “western education” or “formal education”, came into existence in the southern part of the country.  The acceptability of western-education and its influences were restricted by the powerful Emirs in the North.  One of the reasons for the western education blockade was the fear that Muslim children might be converted into Christianity and thus up-turn revered Muslim traditions and cultures.  But by 1914, the Northern and Southern Protectorates of Nigeria were amalgamated to become a united Nigeria and English language (the language of the colonial masters) was adopted as the medium of communication to transact government business and other official communications.  The North thereby reluctantly accepted western education to a severely limited extent in a bid to have a say in the administration of the new Nigeria being midwived by the British.  These two religions created an unending educational gulf between the predominantly Muslim North and the predominantly Christian South in Nigeria.  Many educational policies, the most far-reaching being the National Policy on Education (1977), were made to bridge this education gulf, with varying degrees of success, as we have established in this paper.   

Keywords: Koranic, Education, Islam and Christianity