Motives for Developing Education in Colonial West Africa

Adam Throne
3/11/2016
History 184
Thabiti Willis
Final Paper Option 1
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Introduction

Prior to colonization, European contact with West Africa occurred through the slave

trade, missionaries, and coastal trade. Portuguese activity on the West Africa coast dates back

nearly three hundred years before the widespread European colonization of the entire continent.

However, West African education was not influenced by Europeans until colonies were firmly

established in the beginning of the 20th century. Germany’s holdings were primarily in East

Africa, in Togoland along the Gold Coast, and in Cameroon along the Bight of Biafra. France

possessed a landlocked colony in northwestern Africa which included modern Niger, Chad,

Mali, and Mauritania. Britain controlled Nigeria and Ghana. Each of these empires had

economic, nationalist, and political reasoning for their violent conquests in the region. Yet, each

of them used a desire to improve inferior people to justify colonization. This contradiction holds

true when analyzing Colonial West Africa education. Although colonial governments claimed

that they built schools to improve the lifestyles of the people under their power, education served

as a means of increasing economic output, building subordination, and exerting influence.

History of Pre-Colonial and Colonial Education in West Africa

Before analyzing the motives behind educating colonies, it is important to appreciate how

colonialism changed education in West Africa. Prior to colonialism, some sort of informal

education existed in most communities. This early education was taught through the lens of

religion. From as early as the eighth century, the spread of Islam heavily influenced North and

East portions of the region through the Trans-Saharan trade routes. As a result, the basis of

education at the time was study of the Quran. Christian religious education was introduced as
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early as 1805 when the London Missionary Society established its first school.1 Missionary

education focused primarily on Christianizing the indigenous people though.2 Furthermore, only

the wealthiest men and men with strong lineage or potential were accepted into these missionary

schools.3 This esoteric system created a hierarchy and severely limited the breadth of education.

Nevertheless, although they were limited, Muslim and Secular schools built a foundation for

subsequent systems to build upon.

Government-sponsored school systems forcefully replaced religion-focused schools over

the course of colonialism. By the Interwar Period, each of the overseas administrations

supervised its own school system.4 These schools were more structured than their predecessors;

governments constructed buildings solely for education, required students to wear uniforms, and

demanded conformity. Government-regulated Presbyterian schools, which replaced many

missionary schools, focused more on keeping children away from bad influences and improving

personhood than on forcing Christianity.5 White settler children that had not experienced pre-

colonial schools attended different schools than local children.6 African schools focused heavily

on increasing technical skills and educating about European ideals.7 By the 1930’s, education for

specific needs replaced metropolitan-style education.8 The resurgence in African inquiry

following the World Wars affected education as well. Scholars laid out their preferences for the

1
Cohen, Cynthia. 1993. “'The Natives Must First Become Good Workmen': Formal Educational Provision in
German South West and East Africa Compared”. Journal of Southern African Studies 19 (1). [Taylor & Francis,
Ltd., Journal of Southern African Studies]: 117
2
Ibid.
3
Brenner, Louis. Controlling Knowledge: Religion, Power, and Schooling in a West African Muslim Society.
Bloomington, IN, USA: Indiana University Press, 2001. 18.
4
Gamble, Harry. 2009. “Peasants of the Empire: Rural Schools and the Colonial Imaginary in 1930s French West
Africa (les Paysans De L'empire: Écoles. 776.
5
Lindsay, Lisa A. Men and Masculinities in Modern Africa. Edited by Stephan Miescher. 94.
6
Cohen, Cynthia. 1993. “'The Natives Must First Become Good Workmen': Formal Educational Provision in
German South West and East Africa Compared”. Journal of Southern African Studies 19 (1). [Taylor & Francis,
Ltd., Journal of Southern African Studies]: 131.
7
Ibid. Pg 118.
8
Gamble, Harry. 2009. “Peasants of the Empire: Rural Schools and the Colonial Imaginary in 1930s French West
Africa (les Paysans De L'empire: Écoles. 775.
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future of education even as the concept of decolonization rose. Jules Brévié, a well-known

French social reformer, shared his opinion on colonial education as the glamor of colonization

faded:

“This native school, which we must see one day in each group of villages, is the

rural school, liberated from ambitious academic curricula, it’s a farm and a

work-shop, a dispensary and an experimental field. We need to concern ourselves

with practical realities, with improving native life right on the spot. In order for

natives to go to school, schools must first go to the natives.”9

Brévié makes it clear that colonial education developed continuously over the course of the

colonial period. The following analysis studies which motives enhanced this interest in

increasing and developing schools.

Familiar Motive

The public motivation for educating Africans was improving “native” society for the

better. Following the Berlin Conference of 1885, there was a strong sentiment of Western

superiority over less developed regions. The first few lines from British poet Rudyard Kipling’s

renowned 1889 poem “White Man’s Burden” encapsulate this emotion:

“Take up the White Man’s burden—

Send forth the best ye breed—

Go send your sons to exile

9
Ibid. Pg 781.
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To serve your captives' need”10

The British and other colonial powers believed they were responsible for improving the lifestyles

of different races.

However, there seems to be a defining private motivation as well. Yes, the slave trade

had significantly weakened the living conditions of pre-colonial West Africa.11 A large

percentage of the Gold Coast’s population was sold. Additionally, since a large share of the

population worked in agriculture, droughts disrupted both the economy and food output.12 Due to

their direct involvement in the Atlantic Slave Trade, Europeans in particular felt a burden to

improve West Africa and restore its pre-slavery condition. Yet, it seems this reasoning served

more as a scapegoat than as a legitimate source of rational. A sample treaty from 1840 between

the British and any West African country exemplifies how the British overcompensate for their

role in slavery: “There shall be peace and friendship between the people of England and the

people of –– and the slave trade shall be put down forever in ––, and the people of England and

the people of –– shall trade together innocently, justly, kindly, and usefully.”13 The tone of this

excerpt is insincere. It seems that the “White Man’s Burden” is used to cover up other European

motives for educating West African locals and is therefore an insignificant motive itself.

Scholarship on Colonial West Africa Regions and Motives

Each colonizer in West Africa had a different fundamental motive for educating native

children in its colonies, but the underlying patterns which connected these motives were greed

10
"The White Man's Burden": Kipling's Hymn to U.S. Imperialism." "The White Man's Burden": Kipling's Hymn to
U.S. Imperialism. Accessed March 07, 2016. http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5478/.
11
Rönnbäck, Klas. "Living Standards On the Pre-colonial Gold Coast: A Quantitative Estimate of African Laborers’
Welfare Ratios." European Review of Economic History 18, no. 2 (2014): 199
12
Ibid. Pg 186.
13
Worger, William H., Nancy L. Clark, and Edward A. Alpers. Africa and the West: A Documentary History From
the Slave Trade to Independence. Phoenix, Ariz.: Oryx Press, 2001. 137.
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and desire for control.

Germany’s policy towards education in Togoland focused on building German

nationalism among natives and increasing economic efficiency. Cynthia Cohen, a director of

Peacebuilding and the Arts, argues that government-controlled missionary schools taught the

German language to improve students’ knowledge and lifestyles.14 The choice of German in the

curriculum served as a way for Germany to gain power over its subjects. The following excerpt

from a summary of a German colonial school’s day makes this apparent:

“The following questions had been set as a task: a)The large states of Europe and

their capitals / b)What are the names of Germany’s most important mountains? / c)What

are the names of the most important rivers in Germany and in what direction do they

run?. . .What good things have the Europeans brought us?”15

Government-controlled schools focused on naturalizing natives in most aspects of their

curriculums. These questions have no practical relationship to the lives of students living in

German colonies. The pro-German bias of these assignments supports a pro-European motive for

education.

Moreover, Otto von Bismarck’s initial lack of interest in colonization discredits the

possibility of Germany colonizing Togoland for the region’s own benefit. Robert O. Collins, a

scholar of African History, claims that Bismarck decided to join partition in order to save his

14
Cohen, Cynthia. 1993. “'The Natives Must First Become Good Workmen': Formal Educational Provision in
German South West and East Africa Compared”. Journal of Southern African Studies 19 (1). [Taylor & Francis,
Ltd., Journal of Southern African Studies]: 119.
15
Worger, William H., Nancy L. Clark, and Edward A. Alpers. Africa and the West: A Documentary History From
the Slave Trade to Independence. Phoenix, Ariz.: Oryx Press, 2001. 249-250.
 7

reputation.16 It makes sense, given Bismarck’s other aggressive actions, that he would also be

interested in the economic benefits of a colony. Through education, the German colonial

government could actively fill otherwise empty positions in the Togoland economy with

artisans.17 Wazi Apoh, a scholar of archaeology and heritage, has his own stance on the

economic motives of German colonization in West Africa: “The German colonial masters see

themselves as people on a civilizing mission. . .to. . .help them to develop using the rich natural

resources with which the continent is endowed”18 Apoh argues that school masters believed

economic development benefited students. Yet, it makes sense that masters would try to cover

their own greed. Due to high taxes, almost all resources were exported back to Germany. Later,

Apoh changes his perspective to match this argument more directly: “The local people were not

only expected to be faithful disciples of Western religion, but to work hard on their farms to

produce cheap cash crops for export to Europe to feed their industries.”19 There was clearly a

desire for economic exploitation, and education made this endeavor more efficient. In German

West African colonies, naturalization and economic exploitation through education overwhelmed

the rationale of the “White Man’s Burden.”

The goal of education in French colonies of West Africa was to “civilize natives” while

simultaneously building subordinance for direct rule. France did not focus education on

developing the workforce like Germany did, since the size of it’s empire was enormous and it

possessed economic resources at home in Alsace and Lorraine. Instead, through education,

16
Collins, Robert O., James McDonald. Burns, Erik Kristofer. Ching, and Robert O. Collins. Historical Problems of
Imperial Africa. Princeton: M. Wiener Publishers, 1994. 31.
17
Cohen, Cynthia. 1993. “'The Natives Must First Become Good Workmen': Formal Educational Provision in
German South West and East Africa Compared”. Journal of Southern African Studies 19 (1). [Taylor & Francis,
Ltd., Journal of Southern African Studies]:134
18
Apoh, Wazi,, and Bea Lundt. Germany and Its West African Colonies: 'excavations' of German Colonialism in
Post-colonial Times. Berlin: Lit, 2013. 119.
19
Apoh, Wazi,, and Bea Lundt. Germany and Its West African Colonies: 'excavations' of German Colonialism in
Post-colonial Times. Berlin: Lit, 2013. 127.
 8

“natives” were drawn closer to France.20 W. Bryant Mumford, an author of African Affairs,

believed that Africans in French West-African colonies had developed a different style of

thinking from the French through their pre-colonial educations and family traditions.21 They

were not capable of developing an education system of their own.22 An education system that

focused on allowing the locals to develop at their own pace shared the liberal ideals of the

French Revolution by promoting liberty and striving for equality.23 This positive reasoning

makes sense until one realizes that the education system instilled in French colonies was similar

to the one set in place in German colonies. All lessons were taught in French with the goal of

making the Africans subordinate to their agents.24 Curriculums also included French history and

etiquette. The French governed their colonies using direct rule. This means that a French agent

had direct power over the people of the colony.25 In order for this system to succeed, the locals,

whom greatly outnumbered their direct rulers, had to feel significantly inferior to their overlords.

Replacing West African culture with French culture through education had this effect. Again,

personal desire for control made the excuse of improving inferior peoples invalid.

The British colonial government used education to exert its influence as the primary

source of power in Nigeria and Ghana. Differing from the French, the British practiced indirect

rule; chiefs appointed by the British were supervised as they controlled day to day governance.

This was highly successful in gaining support of locals, but it limited the power British officials

held. The London Missionary Society and Christian Missionary Society controlled education in

20
Mumford, W. Bryant, and Granville St. John Orde-Browne. Africans Learn to Be French; a Review of
Educational Activities in the Seven Federated Colonies of French West Africa, Based upon a Tour of French West
Africa and Algiers Undertaken in 1935. New York: Negro Universities Press, 1970.
21
Ibid. Pg 28.
22
Ibid. Pg 100.
23
Ibid. Pg 29.
24
White, Bob W.. 1996. “Talk About School: Education and the Colonial Project in French and British Africa,
(1860-1960)”. Comparative Education 32 (1). Taylor & Francis, Ltd: 11.
25
Whittlesey, Derwent. 1937. “British and French Colonial Technique in West Africa”. Foreign Affairs 15 (2).
Council on Foreign Relations: 362–73. doi:10.2307/20028773. 367.
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British West-African colonies much longer than missionaries did in other colonies.26 As the

schools of these missionaries began to gain influence, the British realized they had to intervene.

A dual system of education was created with mission schools and state schools co-existing.27 On

top of this motive, like in German colonies, the curriculum of the new state schools contained

subjects which improved commercial capability.28 This proves the following theory of V.Y.

Mudimbe, a Congolese philosopher and professor: “The colonists, as well as the colonialists,

have all tended to transform non-European areas into fundamentally European constructs.”29

Mudimbe believes that Europeans, and particularly the British, changed local policy in their

West African colonies solely because it was different. The British wanted to be the only source

of educational influence in their colonies, so they benefited themselves by increasing spending in

government schools. Like in French and German colonies, this example of self-interest contrasts

sharply with the publicly claimed responsibility to improve education for the betterment of West

African civilians.

Conclusion

The underlying motives for European education caused it to be ineffective for Colonial

Africa natives. Intervention in the pre-colonial system upset the natural development of Africa.

Inhabitants were given a glimpse of European culture, but they were never able to obtain it. Only

an elite portion of the population was able to attend the small number of government-sponsored

26
White, Bob W.. 1996. “Talk About School: Education and the Colonial Project in French and British Africa,
(1860-1960)”. Comparative Education 32 (1). Taylor & Francis, Ltd: 12.
27
Ibid. Pg 13.
28
Ofori-Attah, Kwabena Dei. 2006. “The British and Curriculum Development in West Africa: A Historical
Discourse”. International Review of Education / Internationale Zeitschrift Für Erziehungswissenschaft / Revue
Internationale De L'education 52 (5). Springer: 415.
29
Mudimbe, V. Y. The Invention of Africa: Gnosis, Philosophy, and the Order of Knowledge. Bloomington: Indiana
University Press, 1988. 1.
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schools.30 According to N’Dri Assie-Lumumba, a Professor of African and Diaspora Education,

only 19% of the student body at the University of Sierra Leone is female due to the economic

gender divide also created by colonialism.31 West Africa is stuck in a middle ground where equal

education is not found. This is one region why Sub-Saharan Africa is the poorest region of the

world today.32 The self-interests of colonies in education was a leading factor in causing this

divide and poverty.

30
Apoh, Wazi,, and Bea Lundt. Germany and Its West African Colonies: 'excavations' of German Colonialism in
Post-colonial Times. Berlin: Lit, 2013. 120.
31
Assie-Lumumba, N’Dri. Empowerment of Women in Higher Education in Africa: The Role and Mission of
Research. UNESCO Forum Occasional Paper Series Paper no. 11 (2006). 15.
32
Rönnbäck, Klas. "Living Standards On the Pre-colonial Gold Coast: A Quantitative Estimate of African Laborers’
Welfare Ratios." European Review of Economic History 18, no. 2 (2014): 185.
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Bibliography

- Apoh, Wazi,, and Bea Lundt. Germany and Its West African Colonies: 'excavations' of German Colonialism in

Post-colonial Times. Berlin: Lit, 2013.

- Assie-Lumumba, N’Dri. Empowerment of Women in Higher Education in Africa: The Role and Mission of

Research. UNESCO Forum Occasional Paper Series Paper no. 11 (2006).

-Brenner, Louis. Controlling Knowledge: Religion, Power, and Schooling in a West African Muslim Society.

Bloomington, IN, USA: Indiana University Press, 2001.

-Cohen, Cynthia. 1993. “'The Natives Must First Become Good Workmen': Formal Educational Provision in

German South West and East Africa Compared”. Journal of Southern African Studies 19 (1). [Taylor & Francis,

Ltd., Journal of Southern African Studies]

- Collins, Robert O., James McDonald. Burns, Erik Kristofer. Ching, and Robert O. Collins. Historical Problems of

Imperial Africa. Princeton: M. Wiener Publishers, 1994.

- Gamble, Harry. 2009. “Peasants of the Empire: Rural Schools and the Colonial Imaginary in 1930s French West

Africa (les Paysans De L'empire: Écoles.

- Lindsay, Lisa A. Men and Masculinities in Modern Africa. Edited by Stephan Miescher.

- Mudimbe, V. Y. The Invention of Africa: Gnosis, Philosophy, and the Order of Knowledge. Bloomington: Indiana

University Press, 1988.

- Mumford, W. Bryant, and Granville St. John Orde-Browne. Africans Learn to Be French; a Review of Educational

Activities in the Seven Federated Colonies of French West Africa, Based upon a Tour of French West Africa and

Algiers Undertaken in 1935. New York: Negro Universities Press, 1970.

- Ofori-Attah, Kwabena Dei. 2006. “The British and Curriculum Development in West Africa: A Historical

Discourse”. International Review of Education / Internationale Zeitschrift Für Erziehungswissenschaft / Revue

Internationale De L'education 52 (5). Springer:

- Rönnbäck, Klas. "Living Standards On the Pre-colonial Gold Coast: A Quantitative Estimate of African Laborers’

Welfare Ratios." European Review of Economic History 18, no. 2 (2014)

-"The White Man's Burden": Kipling's Hymn to U.S. Imperialism." "The White Man's Burden": Kipling's Hymn to

U.S. Imperialism. Accessed March 07, 2016. http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5478/.

 12

- White, Bob W.. 1996. “Talk About School: Education and the Colonial Project in French and British Africa,

(1860-1960)”. Comparative Education 32 (1). Taylor & Francis, Ltd:

- Worger, William H., Nancy L. Clark, and Edward A. Alpers. Africa and the West: A Documentary History From

the Slave Trade to Independence. Phoenix, Ariz.: Oryx Press, 2001.