When the mid-west region was created in 1963, many civil servants had to relocate to Benin. It therefore became necessary to establish a govt-owned all female school to cater for the academic needs of girls, who hitherto would have gone into either Queens college Lagos or Queens school Ede Obaclan).

Consequently about ten years later, in January 1973, the military governor, Dr. S. 0, Ogbemudia established Queen Idia college in Benin City. The school was mid-wifed by the dynamic then commissioner of education Chief Tao Akpata.

The aim was that Idia college would provide qualitative education to deserving female students, and that it would also serve as a model for other girls schools in the region.

Idia college is named for a heroic queen of the Benin kingdom, Queen Idia (Mother of King Esigie). The school’s emblem bears the Idia mask, which is popularly called Festac head, because it became the logo of the international FESTAL 77, hosted in Lagos by the Federal government of Nigeria.

School Motto: Honesty, Determination & Initiative.