• “He showed the light to Ekiti and the people found the way”
Once upon a time, a British priest and his wife left Britain for the then dangerous terrains of our Nigeria. The anticipated hardship was less bothering for the couple. The goal of emancipating a people was paramount in their thoughts.
The couple eventually arrived in Ado-Ekiti and successfully sowed a tiny seed on the rocky slope of the famous Agidimo Hills. That was 90 years ago.
Today, 30 June 2023, alumni of Christ’s School Ado Ekiti all over the world are marking the 90th anniversary of its establishment. It was founded on 30 June 1933 by the British missionary, Archdeacon Henry Dallimore. According to various articles and presentations, aggregated by Wikipedia, it was originally christened ‘Ekiti Central School, a co-educational secondary school, taking students into classes V and VI.
Now, the tiny seed has evidently germinated and grown into a giant tree with long branches that reach to the four corners of our world, carrying aloft the patriotic flag of Ekitiland and Nigeria.
The giant tree is Christ’s School , Ado -Ekiti. The long branches are the School’s quality Alumni that daily contribute to the advancement of our lovely Earth, across the continents of Africa, Europe, North & South America; Asia etc.
And the sower was Archdeacon Henry Dallimore.
In plainer words, Dallimore was a pionner Christian missionary in old Ekiti Division and founder of the area’s premier secondary school; Christ School, Ado-Ekiti.
Born 1885 in England, Dallimore came to Ekiti, Nigeria in 1925 alongside Rev. T. Harding, Revd Isaac Babamboni and Canon Jebb.
Before this time, he had expressed his dissatisfaction with the defects and the conservatism of the English public school system which was limited to the study of Greek and Latin.
Education in West Africa, Dallimore believed, should be established on a wider platform. In pursuit of this ideology, he moved from Sierra Leone, where he was working, to St. Andrews’s College Oyo.
From Oyo, Dallimore was appointed superintendent of the Ekiti District with full authority to try out his education administrative ideas. Under him, Ekiti primary schools dotting all over the district were united as the Ekiti Central School, representing the beginning of what would become the Christ’s School. That was in 1933.
Dallimore, having laid the foundation of the school, retired in 1947. His struggle against the educational authorities had culminated in the upgrade of his school to a high school-secondary-status.
While Henry Dallimore was busy nurturing Christ’s School, his wife, Dorothy Dallimore , moved across the valley of Oloogan River and the heights of Ayoba Hills to sow the seed of what we know today as ILE ABIYE Hospital, Ado-Ekiti, a maternity home that delivered generations of Ekiti people, brand new, to the world.
The couple were too busy nurturing their projects to think of having any biological offspring.
When Dallimore was retiring, he indicated a preference for the grounds of Christ’s School as his resting place. His wish was granted as he was flown to Nigeria for burial on July 19, 1970.
It was said in Dallimore’s obituary that he showed the light to Ekiti and the people found the way.
Today-June 30,2023-as Christ’s School Students and Alumni celebrate another Founders Day, Dallimore’s name is bound to resonate across the world. From the Thames River side of London Essex to the concrete jungle of New York; From the Dessert fringes of Maiduguri to the swampy coastaland of Lagos; from the Canadian Prairies to the Oriental terrain of the East ; from the Cape to Cairo, the penetrating roar of joy will be Up Dallimoooore, Up Schoooool !
It was renamed ‘Christ’s School, Ado Ekiti’ by Sir Bernard Henry Bourdillon, the governor of then Northern and Southern Protectorates of Nigeria. In 1936, it moved to its permanent and current site, the Agidimo Hills.
Famously called The School, it was conceived as an attempt to advance secondary school education in Ekitiland and Western Nigeria in an atmosphere where discipline, diligence and academic excellence would be nurtured and guaranteed. ‘The total impact of the education to be given was to make the individual a useful person to himself and his community’.
For this reason, initial subjects taught in The School included the following outside the normal academic subjects: Tailoring, Brick-making, Plastering, Building, Carpentry for boys and Weaving and Knitting for girls. Agriculture and Cattle keeping were added in 1945, thus by many decades before, Christ’s School was already doing what today’s 6-3-3-4 and all its other newer variants had been grappling with for decades.’
Much of the funding of its administration came from the Directorate of Education of the Christian Missionary Society (later Anglican Communion – Church of Nigeria)’under the direct supervision of Henry Dallimore, the District Education Superintendent of CMS schools. In 1942, the school attained a full high school status, enlarging its capacity to admit students into classes other than classes V and VI. In consequence, Henry Dallimore became the High Master (equivalent of principal).
The school has huge reputation all over Nigeria having produced major talents in fields as diverse as education, medicine, law, history, engineering, governance, banking, administration, diplomacy, the arts etc
The school’s official symbol is the Chi Rho christogram with Christus Victor.
Houses
Mason: Blue
Harding: Yellow
Dallimore: Green
Babamboni: Red
Ogunlade: Purple”
Some Alumni of the school
Robert Adeyinka Adebayo
Michael Bamidele Otiko
J.F. Ade Ajayi
Ladipo Adamolekun
Niyi Osundare
Michael Omolewa.
Olusegun Olutoyin Aganga.K
Kayode Fayemi
Bolaji Akinyemi
Isaac Fola Alade
Benjamin Oluwakayode Osuntokun.
–Adapted from the article shared on FB by Gbenga Alaketu. The piece is a product of different articles by the school’s alumni association, presentations and different writings aggregated by Wikipedia