Historical Analysis of Vocational Education in Western Nigeria, 1930s-1960s

Abstract

This paper examined the evolution and development of vocational education in Nigeria. It is explained as a process towards the attainment of industrialization and entrepreneurship in Nigeria. Before the 1930s, there was little focus on the dissemination of vocational education for development in Nigeria. The findings revealed that training schemes were basically instituted to train manpower to facilitate exportation and generate revenue for the colonial government in Nigeria. The areas of vocational education covered are; agricultural education, textile training, domestic science education, secretarial and management education and so on. The conception of vocational education here is concerned about the types of training given to Nigerians and its impact on sustainable self-employment and industrialization in the postcolonial era. The work adopted a historical approach by using primary and secondary sources.

The primary sources were archival materials from the National Archives Ibadan (NAI). The secondary sources are texts related to education and development in Nigeria. It was concluded that modernization is important to improve vocational education for development in Nigeria.

Keywords: Vocational education, Development, Training, Education, Entrepreneurship