The purpose of this article is to stress the neglected aspects of the inter-war educational policy in British tropical Africa which was generally referred to as Adaptation. It is not unusual to find gaps between theory and practice in various systems of education, but stated policy and educational practice in British Africa were so divergent as to merit special attention. Although a concerted effort was made to introduce Adaptation in 1923, the policy did not remain rigid; in fact it evolved in three distinct yet overlapping phases. Adaptation in tropical Africa was a transplant of an educational policy which grew gradually in New Zealand and India and crystallized during the era of New Imperialism in the 1890s in South Africa and in the south of the United States. The discussion which follows is therefore at once historical and comparative. An attempt will also be made to show that adaptation was linked to the political fortunes of the West.

Adaptation was based on the Colonial Office document issued in 1925, though the Derby Day Meeting which officially conceived this policy was held two years earlier on 6 June 1923. The policy displayed noble intentions: the major effort was directed towards literacy of the masses. The education of girls and adults was not to be neglected. The curriculum was to be geared to the agricultural economy that sustained tropical Africa. Government departments other than Education in each colony were to assist in training artisans and technicians with machine tools. In non-Muslim areas the school would be encouraged to have a Christian bias. Since the colonial government could not finance school expansion on its own, expansion would be through government-assisted schools run by the missions. Circumstances permitting, higher education would be provided.