CH8.Ewout Frankema.education.pdf
CH8.Ewout Frankema.education.pdf CH8.Ewout Frankema.education.pdf
stability. Stability of prices, of economic institutions (including financial marketinstitutions) and government spending programs is vital to create and sustain afavourable investor’s climate and optimize conditions for private entrepreneurship.Education plays a role in the design of macro-economic policies in two ways. On theone hand it develops the administrative and intellectual capacity to implement incentivestructure enhancing policies. On the other hand, education can mitigate the negativeside-effects of kleptocratic rule.When the state is controlled by a dominant coalition of rent-seeking elites who areoverwhelmingly occupied with the preservation of personal interests, state policies tendto limit access to economic resources and political influence to the majority of thepopulation (Khan, 2000; North et al., 2009). Rent-seeking can impede economicdevelopment in various degrees, depending largely on the type of economic distortion itproduces. High transactions costs deter economic initiatives and impersonal exchange.A large group of non-coopted intellectuals raises the probability of certain formal andinformal checks on overt power abuse. Intellectuals more often take the lead in theorganisation of political opposition and are usually capable of communicating their callfor civil liberties (e.g. freedom of speech and public assembly, independent jurisdiction,political representation etc.) in a more effective way (Hall et al., 1986).For the latter reason colonial governments stood ambivalent towards the expansion ofindigenous education and the supply of higher education in particular. Colonialgovernments needed skilled employees in order to develop administrative capacity, thepublic health care system, to maintain and employ their communication andtransportation networks, but they also feared a contra-productive rise of anti-colonialsentiments. In the 1910s and 1920s Dutch politicians openly ventilated their concernsabout a white-collar proletariat in the East Indies that would threaten the stability ofcolonial society (van der Veur, 1969; Lelyveld, 1996). Similar concerns about theaccess of literate Congolese to subversive literature were expressed by the Belgians inthe Congo (Dunkerley, 2009). Indeed, many authors have stressed that the supply ofWestern education has been a significant factor in the rise of anti-colonial nationalism(Coleman, 1954; Sutton, 1965; White, 1996).2. State and missions: different objectives, different approachesTo Leopold the Belgian missionary societies were of great use to establish control overthe vast Congo territory. The Catholic missionary schools were needed to train peoplefor the army (La Force Publique) and for the lower ranks in the governmentadministration. Belgian missionaries also acted as crucial knots in the communicationand information network which upheld Leopold’s skeleton administration, them oftenbeing the only whites in the far corners of his private estate. The fact that Leopoldhimself never dared to visit his colony for fear of catching a tropical disease (vanReybrouck, 2010) nicely illustrates how vital the development of early mission stationswas to the effective occupation of the Congo territory.To secure British support for his Congo claim at the Berlin conference Leopold had toguarantee free entry to missionaries of all denominations, including the Protestant3
societies (Pakenham, 1992). Although the Protestant societies worked mainly outsidethe orbit of the colonial administration, their presence had important consequences forthe missionary schooling potential that was to develop in later years, especially after theannexation in 1908. The improved prospects of long term political stability enhancedthe influx of Catholic and Protestant missionaries competing for converts. The newadministration supported this development. Missionaries provided important publicservices such as education and (primitive forms of) medical care at very low costs,which was welcome in view of the extremely limited government budgets of theCongolese colonial state. Moreover, the Christian churches had access to a far greaterlabour potential which it could mobilize for an adventure in the tropics than the colonialgovernment.The ultimate goal of the missionary zeal was the conversion and salvation of as manyindigenous souls as possible. The missionary effort thus supported a widespreaddiffusion of mass education, with low quality standards and limited opportunities toenroll in a post-primary school trajectory. In the distant rural areas mission schools weregenerally ungraded and managed by one or two native missionary-teachers with acurriculum confined to the lower grades of primary education. Post-primary educationwas offered in the larger cities, but focused on teacher training programs in order toenlarge the group of indigenous missionary-teachers. The missions thus formed anextremely efficient medium to civilize and socialize colonial subjects without raising aclass of indigenous intellectuals that could challenge the legitimacy and authority of thecolonial state.The disadvantages of this system became apparent only in the course of time. Thedemand for high skilled native labour increased with the expansion of the stateadministration and the development of industrial production in the major copper areas(Katanga). The public call for increased government involvement in African education,endorsed by the report of the Phelps-Stokes committee in 1925, rose the pressure oncolonial governments to increase education budgets. The conflict over educationalaffairs between the state authorities and the missions which arose during the 1920s weresustained until decolonization. The political weight of the Belgian Catholic church hadalways been considerable and traditional privileges proved hard to give up. Hence, themissions firmly resisted the plan to introduce state inspection in return for additionalfinancial support. The state program of lay education that was developed after WWIIwas attacked by the Church for its supposed support to condemnable atheisticideologies, such as communism (Depaepe and van Rompaey, 1995).In the Dutch East Indies the power-contest between the state and the, predominantlyProtestant, missions had been settled long before. In the last quarter of the 19 th centuryaround a quarter of the students in ‘recognized schools’ on Java and Madura attended amission school (zendingschool) and in the Outer Areas the mission schools formed themajority (Hartgerink, 1942, p. 39). Yet, the financial resources of the missions werelimited and the colonial administration refused to hand out public subsidies to privateschools (bijzondere scholen), following the arguments that were put forward about theseparation between Church and state in the Schoolstrijd (1889-1917), a longstandingpolitical debate on the financial treatment of private religious schools. Since the 1870s4
- Page 1: State and Missions: The comparative
- Page 7 and 8: training (meditation), Koran recita
- Page 10 and 11: ut formed a weak basis for the deve
- Page 12 and 13: a strong, religiously motivated, sp
- Page 14 and 15: For the Belgian Congo statistics do
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- Page 21: Thee, K. W., 2006. Policies Affecti
stability. Stability of prices, of economic institutions (including financial marketinstitutions) and government spending programs is vital to create and sustain afavourable investor’s climate and optimize conditions for private entrepreneurship.Education plays a role in the design of macro-economic policies in two ways. On theone hand it develops the administrative and intellectual capacity to implement incentivestructure enhancing policies. On the other hand, <strong>education</strong> can mitigate the negativeside-effects of kleptocratic rule.When the state is controlled by a dominant coalition of rent-seeking elites who areoverwhelmingly occupied with the preservation of personal interests, state policies tendto limit access to economic resources and political influence to the majority of thepopulation (Khan, 2000; North et al., 2009). Rent-seeking can impede economicdevelopment in various degrees, depending largely on the type of economic distortion itproduces. High transactions costs deter economic initiatives and impersonal exchange.A large group of non-coopted intellectuals raises the probability of certain formal andinformal checks on overt power abuse. Intellectuals more often take the lead in theorganisation of political opposition and are usually capable of communicating their callfor civil liberties (e.g. freedom of speech and public assembly, independent jurisdiction,political representation etc.) in a more effective way (Hall et al., 1986).For the latter reason colonial governments stood ambivalent towards the expansion ofindigenous <strong>education</strong> and the supply of higher <strong>education</strong> in particular. Colonialgovernments needed skilled employees in order to develop administrative capacity, thepublic health care system, to maintain and employ their communication andtransportation networks, but they also feared a contra-productive rise of anti-colonialsentiments. In the 1910s and 1920s Dutch politicians openly ventilated their concernsabout a white-collar proletariat in the East Indies that would threaten the stability ofcolonial society (van der Veur, 1969; Lelyveld, 1996). Similar concerns about theaccess of literate Congolese to subversive literature were expressed by the Belgians inthe Congo (Dunkerley, 2009). Indeed, many authors have stressed that the supply ofWestern <strong>education</strong> has been a significant factor in the rise of anti-colonial nationalism(Coleman, 1954; Sutton, 1965; White, 1996).2. State and missions: different objectives, different approachesTo Leopold the Belgian missionary societies were of great use to establish control overthe vast Congo territory. The Catholic missionary schools were needed to train peoplefor the army (La Force Publique) and for the lower ranks in the governmentadministration. Belgian missionaries also acted as crucial knots in the communicationand information network which upheld Leopold’s skeleton administration, them oftenbeing the only whites in the far corners of his private estate. The fact that Leopoldhimself never dared to visit his colony for fear of catching a tropical disease (vanReybrouck, 2010) nicely illustrates how vital the development of early mission stationswas to the effective occupation of the Congo territory.To secure British support for his Congo claim at the Berlin conference Leopold had toguarantee free entry to missionaries of all denominations, including the Protestant3
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