SchChat - School | Federal College of Education (FCE)

Descriptions

The Federal College of Education, Zaria, formerly known as the Advance Teachers' College,(A.T.C) Zaria, is located in Zaria. The town lies between Latitude 11.07 and 12 degrees North and Longitude 07.44 and 8 degrees east. Located at a distance of about 962km from the Atlantic Ocean, it is about 80 kilometers North of Kaduna, the Capital of Kaduna State. In April 1959, the Federal Ministry of Education, realizing the cardinal importance of educational development to a nation newly attaining political independence, appointed a Commission under the chairmanship of Sir Eric Ashby, Master of Clare College, Cambridge, to investigate the needs of Nigeria in Post-School Certificate and Higher Education. On the basis of the report of this Commission, which was significantly entitled "Investment in Education", the Government of Nigeria in 1961 presented to the parliament a white paper on educational development up to 1970. Briefly, the aims and objectives for establishing the College, at the take off, can be summarized as follows: To provide professionally qualified non-graduate teachers of Northern origin to man the Secondary and Teacher Training Colleges in the region. To provide professionally qualified Assistance Inspectors for primary schools. Through the products or graduates of the College, to be able to gradually Northernise the entire staff of all the Secondary Schools and Teacher Training Colleges in the region. The College was temporarily situated in the present site of the Nuhu Bamalli Polytechnic (Annex Campus) along Gaskiya Road, Zaria, opposite the Institute of Education, ABU Annex. Within a short time, the building became inadequate for the needs of an Advanced Teachers' College. In January 1973, the College finally moved to its present site by old Jos Road, opposite the Institute of Administration (Kongo Campus), Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.