The Enduring Legacy: Investment in Education in African Colonies
Education is recognised as a crucial factor in breaking the cycle of poverty. In many countries across the globe, the level of human capital, one of the drivers to economic performance, is partly imputable to policies implemented by European settlers during the early 20th century. As a matter of fact, a strand of the economic literature studies the effect of the colonial persistence on socioeconomic outcomes. Colonial institutions have been considered as the workhorse of such persistence.
Pre-Colonial Education in Africa
Pre-colonial Africa was made up of ethnic groups and states that embarked on migrations depending on seasons, the availability of fertile soil, and political circumstances. Therefore, power was decentralized among several states; many people held some form of authority and as such power was not concentrated in a particular person or an institution. Usually, a person's entitlement to land (which was mostly given patriarchally) gave the person some form of power within the person's household or within the person's ethnic group. Households were also economically independent, such that household members produced their own food, shelter, and security.
Education in many pre-colonial African states was in the form of apprenticeship, a form of informal education, where children and younger members of each household learned from older members of their household, and community. In most cases, each household member learned more than one skill, in addition to learning the values, socialization, and norms of the community, tribe, and household. Some common skills included dancing, farming, fishing, winemaking, cooking (mostly for females), and hunting.
Festivals and rituals were also used as means to teach the history of their region or state. Rituals were mainly used to teach young adults about the responsibilities and expectations of adulthood, such as teaching women how to cook and care for a household, and teaching men how to hunt, farm, make masks, etc. Dipo, a rite of passage, is one example and is used to teach young girls - usually adolescents - about cooking, motherhood, and other necessary skills and values before they marry. Domba is a Venda rite of passage for both girls and boys held after their puberty rituals, following which they enter adulthood. It lasted for 9-12 months and involved them working for a sponsor (chief or headman) in the day, and having lessons (milayo) in the night. Domba also included a 'python dance', with this and the lessons taught by ritual specialists in dedicated enclosures.
The origins of African education may be found in Egypt. One of the first convenient mediums for retaining accurate information, papyrus, was used to develop systems for learning and developing new ideas. In fact, one of the first forms of higher education in Africa were the School of Holy Scriptures in Ethiopia and Al-Azhar in Egypt. These schools became cultural and academic centers as many people traveled from all over the globe for knowledge. Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, founded around 970-972 CE, is recognized as one of the oldest institutions of higher learning in the world.
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The Impact of Colonialism on Education
The onset of the colonial period in the 19th century marked the beginning of the end of traditional African education as the primary method of instruction. European military forces, missionaries, and colonists all came ready and willing to change existing traditions to meet their needs and ambitions. Colonial powers such as Spain, Portugal, Belgium, and France colonized the continent without putting in a system of education. Because the primary focus of colonization was reaping benefits from commercial colonial economies, cash crop production, and extraction of raw materials, other physically laborious tasks were prioritized. These economies did not expand to require jobs of a higher skillset or more labor; therefore, intensive labor that required little skill was in high demand. Furthermore, colonial powers were unwilling to offer education to those they colonized unless it benefited them. Colonial powers did not view investing in African education as a practical use of their revenue or refrained from educating Africans to avoid uprisings. Those in positions of authority were specifically in fear of widespread access to higher education.
Colonial powers often debated whether or not to educate their colonized populations and, if so, to what extent. Specifically, the British Education Committee of the Privy Council advocated for vocational education and training rather than one focused on academia. This vocational training, however, neglected professions such as engineering, technology, and similar subjects. Instead, the vocational training had a dominant racial overtone that stressed African training for skills fitting with their assumed social and mental inadequacy. Notably, the Belgians under Leopold II prohibited access to higher education in their colonies. At the same time, other colonial powers put barriers in infrastructure or access, such as limiting the language of instruction to the language of the colonizer, limits on teaching curricula, and ensuring the curriculum did not reflect any Afro-ethnicity.
By demanding that communities create physical schools with strict curricula, the foreign powers could dictate what the people learned, adjusting it to further their agenda. With less community awareness, efficiency in learning skills, and an incredible understanding of the past, African communities began to dwindle in education and prosperity. Aspects of colonialism and its tumultuous effects on the ethos of education are still prevalent in African countries that still struggle to escape the impact of colonization in the 21st century. However, a 2021 study found that colonial education systems may also have had some positive effects on education levels in Africa, namely on numeracy. Numeracy in Africa had accelerated since the 1830s but increased during the late 19th and the first two decades of the 20th century. This suggests that colonial education was a determining factor for better education. This positive relationship might have existed due to the effort to spread European schooling among native populations to legitimize colonial power, since this accelerated the organization of schools.
Education in British Colonial Africa
Education in British Colonial Africa can be characterized by three primary phases. From the late 19th century until the First World War, British colonial education in Africa was largely carried out by missionaries at mission schools. Although these schools were founded with religious intent, they played a significant role in the early colonial machine. Much like in French Colonial Africa, British colonists sought out English-speaking natives who could serve as liaisons between them and the native population; however, this was done far more out of economic incentives than political ones. As the demand for English-speaking Africans increased, mission schools provided training in the form of teaching of the Bible. As time went on, however, British industrialists began to complain about the lack of skilled labor.
British colonial education in Africa during the Interwar Period can be characterized by a push for uniformity despite colonial authorities demonstrating their acute awareness of the notable differences between the different regions of the Empire. Critical to this, as well, was the universal recognition of nationality as a basic human right under the Covenant of the League of Nations. Colonies were, as outlined by the League of Nations, to be eventually granted independence, with the European powers entrusted as the stewards of "civilization" for their respective colonies. Colonies were only allowed independence once they could demonstrate their capacity for self-rule. Governor General of Nigeria (1914-1919) Lord Lugard's 1922 book The Dual Mandate in British Tropical Africa states:"…do not enter the tropics on sufferance, or employ their technical skill, their energy, and their capital as 'interlopers' or as 'greedy capitalists', but in the fulfillment of the Mandate of civilization".
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In 1923, the British Government established the Advisory Committee on Education in British Tropical Africa (with the word tropical removed to broaden its jurisdiction). With its establishment, the colonial authority would, for the first time, uniformly administer its educational goals across all British African colonies. Programs begun under the new committee were aimed at increasing the "self-sufficiency" of village economies and providing community incentives to counteract flight into big cities. Educational practices under this committee came to be known as 'adapted,' as it was sought to adjust Western education to the contemporary European understanding of the 'African Mind' as inherently different; education was often administered through local contexts and practices, all the while teaching western curricula.
In his essay British Colonial Education in Africa: Policy and Practice in the Era of Trusteeship, Aaron Windel of Bowdoin College describes it as such:"Typical lessons in a village school operating on adapted principles focused on hygiene, vernacular word building, drill, and basic local geography. Ideally, lessons would be taught on the principle of 'teach by doing' and would include objects from village life. One geography lesson used a bicycle pump, a pail of water, and a small gourd to simulate a ship carrying sugar from India and caught in a monsoon. Adapted pedagogy could also include dramatizations of 'African tribal histories' or special holiday plays with an African focus".
Most British officials (including Lord Lugard) believed that trusteeship would continue for many generations to come, and the goals of 'civilizing' the native population began to take precedence. The British education system proved to be quite effective. A 2021 study observed a positive effect of British colonization on education levels. Areas that were influenced by the British education system showed a rapid increase in numeracy. For example, in South Africa, where the colonial education and political system switched from Dutch to British in 1806, the increase in numeracy has been rapid since the early 19th century. As British-administered schools took shape during the Interwar Period, many independent schools emerged which focused on literacy and offered alternative curricula. Such schools were thought of as a threat to the colonial system, and colonial governments were worried that these so-called 'outlaw' schools would instill thoughts of subversion and anti-colonialism in the native populations. One such independent school was formed in Kenya among the Kikuyu and made English its language of instruction, with the ultimate goal of enabling the Kikuyu to fight for land property rights in colonial legal and administrative bodies.
Education as a Tool of Colonization in French Colonial Empire
Education as a tool of colonization was widespread throughout the French Colonial Empire. Hubert Lyautey, the first Resident-General of French Morocco, advocated for the facilitation of ruling and conquest through cooperation with native elites. Students were given a predetermined curriculum in classrooms. The basic goal of this classroom practice was to provide only a limited selection of information for students, leaving very little margin for questioning or critical thinking.
Uneven Colonial Investments
What led colonial states to invest much more in some districts than others? This study shows that natural harbors and capes led some places to become centers of pre-colonial trade. These areas, in turn, attracted the lion’s share of colonial public investments not only in infrastructure but also in health and education. Public investments were considerably lower in places further away from the centers of pre-colonial trade. In a recently published article, a combination of data with original district-level data from British records from the Colonial Office (the Blue Books) show that a similar logic applies to former British Africa. It is found that districts with higher public investments (financed largely by taxes that the British and the French imposed on Africans) are more educated and richer today both in French West Africa and in British East and West Africa.
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Given the long-lasting impacts of unequal colonial investments, it is worth asking: Why did European administrators invest much more in some districts than others? Putative explanations for uneven colonial development advanced by historians and political economists include the presence of natural resources, the introduction of cash crops, and some pre-colonial characteristics, such as the degree of pre-colonial political development. However, the main event that rocked sub-Saharan Africa starting in the 1500s was increased trade between Africans and Europeans, primarily in slaves and secondarily in commodities such as gold, ivory, copper, and palm oil.
The colonial districts of Lagunes (to which Abidjan belonged) and Lagos were and remain more developed than most of Cote d’Ivoire and Nigeria, respectively. Most pre-colonial trading centers were located in natural harbors such as Mombasa and capes such as Dakar (or, in the case of inland colonies, rivers such as Bamako). In turn, colonial districts that were centers of pre-colonial trade received the lion’s share not only of infrastructure investments but also of education and health investments-consider the comparatively high degree of investment in places such as Lagos or Calabar. The public expenditure map also suggests that investments quickly decrease as we move away from the core districts. These findings provide a historical foundation for what Horowitz (1985) famously called the “ethnic distribution of colonial opportunity”-that is, that some groups benefited more from, or rather were less harmed by, colonialism than others.
Post-Colonial Education and Development
Between the 1950s and 1990s, African countries regained their independence. With this recovered freedom, they began to rebuild their traditional forms of education. However, a hybrid of the two models inevitably evolved. The collaboration of donor agencies and Western demand pushes for the development of African education, and the building of human capital, dominated global conversation. Namely, the 1960s were known as the First Development Decade by the UN. Policymakers prioritized secondary and tertiary education before also setting their sights on universal primary education around 1980. This set the precedent for educational planning. Although children and adults may learn from their families and community, a sense of individuality has also developed that drives ingenuity and creates separation between groups and cultural traditions. African education programs have evolved to engage both groups; for example, an HIV/AIDS awareness program may involve members visiting communities to share their knowledge.
In 2000, the United Nations adopted the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a set of development goals for the year 2015. At the time, according to UNESCO, only 57% of African children were enrolled in primary schools, the lowest enrollment rate of any region surveyed. The report also showed marked gender inequalities. In almost all countries, the enrollment of boys far outpaced that of girls. However, in some countries, education was relatively strong. Steps such as abolishing school fees, investing in teaching infrastructure and resources, and providing more school meals from the World Food Programme helped increase enrollment by millions. Despite the significant progress of many countries, the world fell short of meeting its goal of Universal Primary Education (UPE). In sub-Saharan Africa as of 2013, only about 79% of primary school-age children were enrolled in school. 59 million children of primary-school age were out of school, and enrollment of girls continued to lag behind that of boys.
Following the expiration of the MDGs in 2015, the UN adopted a set of Sustainable Development Goals for the year 2030. The fourth goal addressed education, aiming to "ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all." The World Education Forum also convened in Incheon, Korea, to discuss the implementation of this goal and adopt the Incheon Declaration for Education 2030.
Due to high linguistic diversity, the legacy of colonialism, and the need for knowledge of international languages such as English and French in employment and higher education, most schooling in Africa takes place in languages that teachers and pupils do not speak natively and, in some cases, do not understand. There is considerable evidence that pupils schooled in a second language achieve poorer results than those schooled in their mother tongue, as a lack of proficiency in the second language impairs understanding and encourages ineffective rote learning. Although UNESCO has recommended since the 1950s that children be taught early literacy in their mother tongue, progressing later to other languages, not all African countries implement this effectively. Another reason for the low education rates in Africa is the lack of proper schooling facilities and unequal opportunities for education across countries.
Case Study: Tunisia
In Tunisia, the remnants of colonial-era schools stand as a testament to a century-old educational legacy that continues to shape lives. Tunisia, under French protectorate from 1881 to 1956, saw an expansion of primary schools aimed at increasing the enrolment rate for both French and Tunisian pupils. By examining historical data on school locations, enrolment rates, and subsequent population censuses, coupled with literacy rates from 1984 and 2014, it was found that increased exposure to colonial public primary education significantly boosted literacy decades later. Specifically, a 1% rise in enrolment of Tunisian pupils in 1931 is linked to nearly 1.8 percentage point higher literacy rates in 2014. In Tunisia, unlike Brazil, European settlers massively deserted the country after independence. This implies that persistence in the Tunisian context is solely carried on by the local population and not a mixture of indigenous and European settlers.
Furthermore, the study goes beyond studying the effect of colonial investments in public primary education, which could have benefited only settlers, and rely on a measure of the direct exposure to public primary education by estimating the enrolment rate of Tunisian pupils and controlling for colonial investment. In a placebo exercise, the lasting influence of the enrolment rate of European pupils in 1931 on current educational outcomes was examined. No correlation was found. The relation with the exposure to colonial public primary education and the likelihood of completing primary education peaks for the age cohort born in 1945-49 who started to attend primary school in the last years of the colonial period. It then slowly declines for all age cohorts born thereafter, reaching a 0.29 percentage point increase in the share of males completing primary school for the age cohort born in 1995-99. While this result may seem to contradict the discussion presented above, it is hardly surprising given that Tunisia had achieved near-universal primary education by the end of the 20th century - 96.4% for the age cohort born in 1995-99.
Following independence, Tunisia’s government had prioritised education, aiming for universal primary enrolment by 1966. In 1958, spatial disparity remained significant: the enrolment rate ranged from as low as 13% in the governorates of Beja and Kairouan, remote regions of Tunisia, to 42% in Tunis, the capital city. In an effort to overcome structural difficulties, the government implemented the first major educational reforms in 1958. In subsequent years, the budget allocated to education grew from 18% in 1958-9 to 32% in 1967. The second major reform, carried out between 1989 and 1991 made school compulsory for children aged between 6 and 16 years old and further stimulated investment in education. As evidenced by Figure 2, primary school enrolment rate was capped at around 60% in the 1970s, which slowed the spread of literacy among the population. However, the Tunisian government pursued its investments in education which continued to make significant progress throughout the 1980s and the 1990s. By 1994, the primary school enrolment rate had reach 86.2%, and by 2014, 99% for children aged 6-11 and 95.8% overall enrolment rate. The continuous efforts made by post-colonial governments to provide universal primary education across the country took around 50 years, and downsized spatial disparities inherited from the colonial education.
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