THE BILLIRI TEACHERS TRAINING SCHOOL 1938
This was the first secondary institution in Tangale-Waja established by the SIM. Maiture gave the reason for the establishment of the school to be the result for the need to have a Teachers Training College at Billiri which the missionaries stated that; “For some time there had been felt the need for more effective trained natives to carry on the work of teaching” (13). To address this need, the school was opened in May with twenty (20) students. These students “were selected from various places where SIM had a station or had established a Church” (Rice 20). According to him, these men speaking different tongues represented six tribes {sic} and about one hundred thousand people. The breakdown is as follows:
Tangale Ten (10) Students
Kaltungo Four (4) Students
Waja Two (2) Students
Tula One (1) Student
Zambuk Two (2) Students
Dadiya One (1) Student
She concluded that “these students were selected based on their Christian characters rather than for their outstanding ability” (22). All these places are located in what is today known as Tangale -Waja area except Zambuk. The curriculum was designed to address different learning needs. “The curriculum covered Arithmetic, Writing, Composition, History, Geography, Nature Study, Religious Knowledge, Hygiene etc. While these subjects were treated as practical: – blacksmithing, carpentry, weaving and farming” (Cain 7-8). The duration of the training of the course was four years which was meant to cover the work of standard four. During the last year of the course, the students were taught the theory and practice of teaching. This equipped them for teaching and preaching after they might have completed their course.
Also, “Another sets of twenty-three (23) students were selected were referred to as practicing school where these future teachers had their practicing teaching” (Crawford 16). This school brought out the hidden potentials in the students, these potentials were discovered and developed.
Many of the people trained in this school became voluntary teachers to the non-literate, they were only teaching them how to read and write without bringing in religious issues until later when they had established good rapport with them. A letter written on the 7th March, 1949 by deputy director education of the Northern provinces revealed that the “Teachers Training Center Billiri” was receiving the sum of 100 pounds sterling from the Colonial office of the Northern Province as a support to build up the school. The report shows that the students were taking lessons in “English and Hausa which included Arithmetic, Composition, Essay, School Method, World Geography, Physical and Health Education, Bible, and Reading” (8). Similarly, the school also enjoyed a quarterly financial grant from the SIM to facilitate the activities in the school and for the structural building of the school. Apart from the training obtained by the teachers in the school, a regular teachers’ re-training was being done to those that have graduated from the school and were working with SIM in other schools to update them on more teaching techniques.
Source:
Bulus, B. S. (2021, June). School Apostolate As Mission Strategy: A Historical Analysis Of The Education Work Of The Sudan Interior Mission (SIM) In Tangale-Waja District. Gombe Journal of Historical Studies, Vol. 1(No. 1), 137 – 153. Retrieved from https://gsu.edu.ng/home/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/8-13His2021.pdf