AN EXAMINATION OF COLONIAL EDUCATION AND SOCIAL CLASS FORMATION IN NIGERIA

Abstract

The era of British rule in Nigeria made education terminal, to the extent that many Nigerians who embraced formal education did so because it conferred on them a distinction from the rest of the society. It was not pursued because it improved skills, but because it made them closer to the white men, as these early comers took pride in being interpreters, clerk assistants, messengers to the white officials. They eventually emerged as a distinct social class because going to school provided them a new status in the society. This article examines the role of colonial education in the formation and consolidation of ‘class’ in Nigeria. The paper argues that, not only did colonial education create a feeling of inferiority complex among locals to the essentialisation of the white folks; it dislocated the psyche of locals to accepting alien values and orientations as the only way to go. This paper adopted a qualitative and analytical approach using secondary sources of data which were content analysed. Therefore, the study recommended un-learning the learned mentality of white supremacy that has dominated the minds of the ruling political elites by restructuring the educational system to suit local needs.