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Major Advantages of the Ordinance

1. The ordinance marked the beginning of dual system of education, whereby the government encouraged the missions, voluntary agencies and private individuals to establish schools. Equally, at same time government became involved in establishing government owned schools;

2. The composition of Boards was so balanced that it removed the cumbersomeness that made the earlier Board unworkable. The new Board was efficient and effective that it produced healthy and balanced deliberations;

3. The provision which kicked against racial discrimination was welcomed by nationalists who demanded for schools to be opened to children without distinction of religion or race;

4. The Ordinance also encouraged manual and technical skills by approving special grants to industrial schools;

In addition, the government accepted more responsibility for secondary and primary education by providing grants-in-aid and scholarships for deserving primary schools leavers;

6. The importance of teachers was stressed in the ordinance. Consequently, teachers were trained, examined, awarded certificate and paid stipulated
salaries. The ordinance, indeed aimed at making teaching a profession; 

7. It also encouraged a gradual expansion of mission schools, extending beyond the Lagos area..

Exercise 3:
Choose any two of the above listed advantages and state their relevance to our present day education system.

Dr. Henry Rawlinson Carr and Post 1887 Ordinance

Henry Carr was the only son of Mr. Amuwo Carr. His father Mr. Amuwo Carr was an ex-slave of Egba origin. Dr. Carr was born in 1863. He studie in Lagos and Sierra-Leone. In 1882 he graduated from Fourah Bay College, Sierra-Leone in physics and mathematics. He later obtained a Masters of Art Degree and Bachelor of Civil law from Durham University in 1906. In 1934 he was awarded an honorary Doctoral Degree of civil law by the Durham University.

After graduation from Fourah Bay College in 1882, he taught in the college till 1885. In 1885 he was appointed to teach as an assistant master in C.M.S. Grammar School Lagos, where he rose to the position of senior master in 1889.

Henry Carr was appointed the sub-inspector of schools for the colony and protectorate of Lagos in 1889. By 1891 he became Deputy Inspector. He was appointed her majesty’s Inspector of schools for the colony of Lagos in 1892.

Dr. Henry Carr brought in some useful ideas which enhanced the growth of education in Nigeria. For instance he advocated for government control of schools, as well as for greater government financial support for schools for easy control of the schools. It was also in his time that the first government school was established in Lagos (1899). This school was in response to the agitation by some Muslims resident in Lagos, for a secular school for their children.

Exercise 4:

List out the contribution of Dr. Henry Carr to the educational development of Nigeria

The Need for the 1916 Ordinance


Before 1914 there were two separate protectorates known as the Southern and Northern Protectorates. Each was under a different administrative authority. However, in 1914 the two were amalgamated, and Lord Fredrick Luggard, who was before then the governor of Northern Protectorate, was appointed Governor-General of the new Nigeria.

As an experienced administrator, who had some mastery of Nigeria, he set up two Boards of Education, one for the North and the other for the South. The new task occasioned by the amalgamation challenged Lugard to make some recommendations in the education system. These recommendations formed major part of the 1916 Education Ordinance. The ordinance which came into existence on 21st December 1916 was almost followed up with the education code of 24th December 1916. The ordinance applied to both the Southern and Northern protectorates as one whereas, the education code was exclusively for the Southern protectorate.

 The Objectives of the 1916 Ordinance and Code

  1. Training on the formation of character and habits of discipline; 
  2. Co-operation between government and missions; 
  3.  Rural as well as Urban education; 
  4.  Increase in number of literate Nigerian to meet the increasing demand for clerks and similar officials; 
  5. A measure of government control over all schools including non- assisted schools. (Osokoya, 1995 p. 66)