COLONIAL EDUCATION IN SA

DATE: 11 APRIL 2013

Before white settlers came to South Africa from Europe in 1652, a number of different groups of black people lived in the land.

These where the pre-colonial times.

Khoi hunters and San herders lived around the Cape (survival skills).

Economy - hunting and gathering from the environment.

traditional form of education– transmission of cultural values and skills within kinship-based groups.

education was based on oral histories of the group, tales of heroism and treachery and practice in the skills necessary for survival in a changing environment.

Children learned(mostly informal) what they lived(survivalistic education)i.e. education that teaches people to adapt to their environment by finding out means of surviving

learning correct behaviour and creating unity and consensus

The education that aimed at instilling the accepted standards and beliefs governing correct behaviour and creating unity and consensus

Children learned(mostly informal) what they lived(survivalistic education)i.e. education that teaches people to adapt to their environment by finding out means of surviving

The education that aimed at instilling the accepted standards and beliefs governing correct behaviour and creating unity and consensus

Eastern Cape - lived Xhosa-speaking people.

Other Nguni-speakers lived to the north, in present-day Natal.

And Sotho-speakers lived in the interior.

All were subsistence farmers (survival skills).

They kept cattle and other animals, and grew certain crops (survival skills).

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Schools

In these pre-colonial African societies there were no formal schools, as we know them today.

It does not mean there was no education at all. This doesn’t mean that there was no education

taking place - All societies had ways of teaching people the knowledge that the society values.

In pre-colonial societies education was part of daily life.

Children learned about their society and their work from older members of the community.

They learned by experience, from doing tasks.

This informal education did not stop when children reached a certain age.

There were initiation ceremonies and rituals which were part of people’s education.

People also learned about their history and past traditions through the songs, poems and stories that were passed on orally.

DUTCH UNDER DEIC

After 1652, Europeans from different countries began to settle at the Cape.

The first settlers were part of a trading company called the Dutch East India Trading Company (DEIC).

The company did not intend to set up a permanent colony at the Cape,

The DEIC did not pay much attention to education.

They learned mainly about religion

Education was not taken seriously as it was the responsibility of the church or the missionaries

It was given through the instruction in the doctrines of the Dutch Reformed Church. Children learned mainly about religion and some basic reading, writing and arithmetic

Schooling was not free and people had to pay for their secondary schooling

Mostly, education was in the hands of the church.

Even in the towns, not all white children went to school.

And schooling was not free – people had to pay for schooling they received.

In the countryside, the children of the trek Boers had even less education.

There were no schools for trek Boer children.

Most of the trek Boers were religious, and parents wanted their children to be able to read so that they could read the bible.

In 1815, the British took over the Cape, and the attempted to gain control over the frontier area.

In the early days there were very few schools at the Cape. They made English the medium of instruction and spread their language and traditions in the colony

They attempted to anglisice the schools, the church and the administration

English was used as a means of social control They brought teachers from Britain to come and

teach at the Cape

The British authorities paid far more attention to education than the Dutch had done.

They wanted to use education as a way of spreading their language and traditions in the colony - and also as a means of social control.

They made English the medium of instruction and spread their language and traditions in the colony

They attempted to anglisice the schools, the church and the administration

English was used as a means of social control They brought teachers from Britain to come and teach

at the Cape The first school in the Cape was for slaves who were

mostly adults. Were induced to learn Christian prayers, In 1663 a second school was opened. This school was attended by twelve white

children, four slaves and one Khoi.

These first schools were not segregated along the lines of colour.

Segregation was introduced quite soon, but at this time lower class whites, slaves and Khoi often attended the same schools.

Not many slaves or Khoi actually attended school.

And those who did go to school didn’t receive much education.

It meant indirect subjugation of indigenous people – hegemony.

They declared English to be the official language, and they attempted to anglicise the church, the government offices and the schools.

They set up a number of schools in the British tradition.

And they brought over teachers from Britain. In 1839 they setup a proper

Department of Education, and also gave financial help to local schools.

During this period, the schooling system gradually became better organized.

Parents had to pay for secondary education.

Schooling was very uneven.

Education developed along the lines of social class.

Richer parents could afford to send their children to private schools.

Secondary schooling was not free, so it was only available to those who could afford to pay.

After 1893 the government gave funds for mission schools to provide education for poorer white communities.

But schooling was not compulsory, and many children received no schooling at all.

There were also great inequalities between town and country areas – later more schools were set up in country areas:

But many of the trek Boer children continued to receive very little education.

In this period we see the development of more complex system of schooling, as the society became more complex.

But it’s important to notice how the education system both reflects and shapes divisions in society.

In South Africa, divisions based on racial classification are obvious to see.

Khoi and slaves provided an important source of labour, especially on the farms, but also in the towns.

British rule brought changes to their position as well.

These changes meant that white farmers could no longer rely on a supply of free labour.

They needed different ways to ensure a supply of disciplined labour that would be prepared to work for them.

And this is where education again was used.

There is no doubt that schooling was seen as a way of ‘instilling social discipline’.

Some historians argue that schooling was an important way of bringing ‘coloured’ people into the dominant society, and preparing them to be wage labourers.

Schools taught people basic reading, writing and arithmetic.

But they also taught discipline, obedience and value of work.

In fact, many ‘coloured’ people received no education at all.

The mission schools usually gave elementary education only,

Secondary and higher education was for the privileged few.

Education helped to create social class divisions among ‘coloured’ people as well.

It reinforced their lower class position.

Almost all of the education for Africans was provided by mission schools.

Missionaries set up mission stations in the frontier area, and also in other parts of the country.

Part of their work was to establish schools; so that people will get educated enough to take part in church activities.

Mission education also aimed to spread the Western way of life among the ‘heathen’ Africans and to teach them certain work values.

Mission schools 1799 The first mission school for Africans

was set up at King Williams’s town

1824 The famous mission station, Lovedale, was set up in the TyumeValley. Many other mission stations and mission schools were established at this time.

Missionaries set up schools mainly for their own religious purposes,

Mission schools were used by the British governors of the Cape to bringing the frontier under their control.

The government began to give financial aid to mission schools.

In this way the government gained some control over the schools.

There were a few well-educated Africans who could take up positions as teachers, clerks, interpreters, and so on.

In the Cape there was also non-racial qualified franchise.

But many of the Africans continued to live independently, sometimes as subsistence farmers and sometimes producing surplus to trade on the market.

In trekker states there was not much educational provision.

Education was mainly in the hands of parents and the church.

Travelling teachers provided some basic education.

In the country towns a few schools were set up.

They also gave basic education, with heavy religious content.

But the buildings were often derelict, teachers were poorly qualified and attendance was irregular.

In the Transvaal, education also gradually became more organised.

It tells us a lot about the way education was viewed.

Parents and the church had a strong influence on schooling.

The government subsidized schools which met with its requirements.

Schooling wasn’t free: parents had to pay fees. Inspectors kept some kind of connection between subsidized schools and the government.

Most of these schools were in rural towns.

In both Transvaal and OFS almost all the schooling was at primary level.

There was very little provision for secondary schooling.

There was even less schooling for African children than for boer children.

Mission schools provided what little there was.

Two famous mission schools established at this time were Botshabelo and Kilnerton. But there was no system of funding for mission schools

In the Natal the Trekker states were soon taken over by Britain.

Education was then seen as a government responsibility.

A schooling system was slowly established, with state schools, state-aided schools and system of inspection.

A number of teachers came from England, bringing the influence of the English system.

There was also church schools and many private academies providing education of different sorts.

Schooling was not free, nor compulsory.

As in trekker states, there was not much schooling in the rural areas.

As far as Africans were concerned, there was a general policy of segregation in Natal.

The government policy was to place Africans in reserves, or ‘tribal locations’, and make them carry passes.

More attention was paid to African schooling in Natal than in the trekker states.

The general segregation policy also applied to schools.

The government set up mission reserves, and granted land to mission societies to be kept in trust for Africans

The missions were well allowed to use labour of people in the reserves, and they were expected to set up schools.

Later, state aid was given to mission schools.

In 1884 the control and organization of African schools became the responsibility of the government Council of Education.

Separate curricula were drawn up for African schools and a system of inspection was introduced.

It was also a way of teaching working class children about work skills and work discipline.’

Compulsory education came to be seen as an important way of ‘rescuing’ the children, so as to solve social problems.

After the war the British government concentrated its efforts on developing a system of free, compulsory education for whites.

In 1902 a new education ordinance was passed in the Transvaal.

The government introduced free primary education ‘for children whose parents are of European descent’.

It also provided for university and technical education, teacher training – and reformatories.

This followed up in all the provinces with laws for compulsory schooling for white children between the age of 7 and 14.

In the years that followed, the amount of compulsory was increased, so that today white children between 7 and 16 must attend school

At the time black education was not made free nor compulsory.

Instead of becoming a state responsibility it remained the responsibility of the church.

However, the state was more active than before.

Financial aid was given to mission schools throughout the country.