The British Empire: A source for good or evil? January 2014 | Page 22

Education in the British Empire
I System of education
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Students in the British Empire had different subjects such as reading, writing, maths, poetry, prayers.
They didn't have many textbooks and paper because it was expensive but they had found a solution : the students learned and
recited their lessons until they knew them.
The three most commonly used books were a Bible, a primer, and a horn-book.
Children of poor families couldn't pay for literary and religious education and, instead, there were apprenticeships from three to
ten years.
There were also schools for future teachers, for example in Malacca, China.
Primary schools were especially weak, as for girls' education, no surprise on either count. Per capita, spending on education in
Bombay was ten times higher than in Orissa, India.
Many laws were meant to help the development of education throughout the time.
The main goals were to teach the population and thus form an elite.

II Some case studies
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In Ghana, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, the Moravian Mission, the Mission of Bremen, the
Methodists and the Roman Catholic missionaries opened elementary schools and a seminary between 1820 and 1881 and
secondary schools (in 1909).
In Nigeria, Protestant missions were opened at Badagry, Abeokuta, Lagos, and Bonny from 1860 to 1899, and the Roman Catholic
missions entered afterwards and opened the first catechism, primary, secondary, and normal schools.
In Uganda and Kenya, the Church Missionary Society, the Universities Mission to Central Africa, the White Fathers, and the
London Missionary Society opened the first mission schools between 1840 and 1900.
The Committee on Education in British tropical Africa was created to develop education on African colonies. It was then recalled
“Advisory Committee on Education in the Colonies” in 1929 and it's yet extended to all the colonies.
Of course, the British Empire couldn't provide every colony with schools and education for everyone but they did their best and
they succeeded to set up many schools, and even a university in Malta (doc. 3) in 1591.
In the 19th century, the East India Company and later the British Crown introduced a new state system of education in British
India. Beginning in 1858 the Crown controlled education policy until 1919 when education was transferred to the control of
Indian ministers at the province-level.
In India there are scientific institutes. There are the Indian institute of Science where students study biological, chemical,
electrical, mathematical, mechanical, and physical sciences, and there is also the Indian institute of technology that was founded
by the central government in 1950.

III Limits to the development of education
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Under the British empire, educational spending never exceeded one percent of GDP because they preferred developing trade,
finance, technologies...
The British also spent twice more educational spendings on the Princely states (privileged) than for India.
Mexico and Brazil, hardly marvels of successful education, were spending about five times as much. Other parts of the British
empire, again per capita, were spending about eighteen times as much.
In India the Education reforms provoked conflicts between the British and the native Indians.
Many young people attend school but official statements affirming that education is "compulsory" are false because, nowadays, a
significant percentage of children--especially girls--fail to become literate and instead carry out many other tasks in order to
contribute to family income. More than half of India's children between the ages of six and fourteen (82.2 millions) are not in
school.

Vocabulary help :
GDP : economic indicator of the wealth produced annually in a country
Horn-book : a page on wood containing the alphabet or religious sentences. It looks like that :
Missionaries : people sent by Catholic church to convert people to Catholicism
Net enrolment : rate of people who applied for school