A History of Isa Kaita College of Education Dutsin-ma, 1991-2015

This work is essentially on the “History of Isa Kaita College of Education, Dutsin-Ma, 1991-2015”. The research critically examined the origin and development of the college from its inception that is 1991 to 2015. This is because of the fact that the year 1991 was when the college was established and 2015 was the landmark in the history of the college and Dutsin-Ma in general. Indeed, the aim of this research is to reconstruct the origin and development of the college, reason why the college was established and located in Dutsin-Ma town. The work further analyzes the educational, socio-economic and political contributions of the college. This research used primary, secondary and tertiary sources of historical reconstruction. Additionally, the research examines with some of the challenges facing the college and possible way forward.          

In general, the history of western education in Nigeria could be traced to the activities of the Christian missionaries in the Southern parts of the country in the 1840s[i]. That was when the European Christian missions made their first successful and enduring incursions into the territories bordering the Atlantic Ocean in the South. As a result of the efforts made by the missionaries as well as the role played by the then Governor General of Nigeria named Frederick Lugard in the development of western education in Nigeria has impact in the contemporary Nigeria educational system. However, the missionary program of educating the natives was consequently restricted initially to the limited objective of producing marginally literate Nigerians, preferably literate only in their own mother tongues. The main concern of the mission schools was to produce school masters who were to graduate as catechists, deacons and then priest. But it is important to note that western education in northern Nigeria was not fully successful in the 19th century, considering the failure of the foreign Christian missions to make a significant educational impact on the Muslim emirates of the north.[ii]   It is imperative to note that most of Northern Nigeria had a long tradition of literacy, which was dated back to about nine hundred years before colonial conquest.Katsina which is part of Northern Nigeria had been recognized since the 17th century as a seat of learning as it produced prominent scholars like Muhammad b. al-Sabbagh bn Muhammad al-Kasnawi al-Arabi popularly known as Dan Marina, Muhammad b. Masani (Dan Masanih) among others who were famous in the knowledge of Qur’an, Hadith (tradition of the prophet Muhammad S.A.W), Islamic law, Arabic Grammar, poetry, History, Philosophy, Astronomy, Astrology and Mathematics and other fields. Many historians as well as adventurers as far back as the 15th century had reported the influx of Islamic Scholars from West and North African region. However, Western Education was introduced to Northern Nigeria around the early 1900.[iii] There seemed to be about fifty year’s gap between the North and its Southern counterpart in Western Education and there was about seven hundred years gap between the North and the South in Islamic education. The Secondary Education in the North started with the establishment of Katsina College in 1921.[iv] The idea of establishing the College in the Northern protectorate was to provide for the manpower needs of colonial administration because the north had inadequate western educated elite to fill the clerical posts in the offices of government departments.

       Katsina Teachers College was essentially established in 1921 to train teachers for the Northern provinces. As the need to recruit Northerners into the Civil Service became greater, the College was upgraded to Katsina Higher College in 1929 with emphasis on man-power development.[v] In the case of Dutsin-Ma, Sada Primary School was the first Elementary school in Dutsin-Ma town established in 1929 by the British colonial government which served as the landmark in the history of Western education in Dutsin-Ma town. The Colleges of Education are the “train-the-trainers” colleges aimed to train and produce good teachers whose core values are honesty, transparent, compassion and tolerance. They were established to address the shortage of teachers at the NCE level all over Nigeria. Therefore, Isa Kaita College of Education Dutsin-Ma Was established in 1991 by the then Military Governor of the state, Colonel Yahaya John Madawaki, as College of Education (Technical) Dutsin-Ma, with the primary aim of addressing the shortage of Science and Technical Teachers at the primary and secondary schools.