French and British Colonial Education in Africa

Relative‐change theory: examining the impact of patriarchy, paternalism, and poverty on the education of women in Kenya

“…At independence in 1960, and after 80 years of educational work in the colony, the missions in Zaire had produced only 'twenty-six graduates' in contrast to 'six hundred fully-trained and ordained Congolese Roman Catholic priests' (Yates 1976, 193-4) in the cadre of high-level manpower. Clignet and Foster (1964), Bude (1983), Hamilton and Asiedu (1987), Emoungu (1987), and White (1996), among others, have documented the extent to which colonial education policy and practice worked to marginalise Africans.…”

Air Afrique: the demise of a continental icon

“…24 Assimilation sought to not only centralise control over the matters of the colonial territories, but also to eliminate the 'parochial cultures and the creation of people who are peers and culturally undifferentiated'. 25 Interestingly enough, the policy of assimilation suggested that equality, fraternity and freedom (liberty) should extend to anyone who was French. In the 1790s, these privileges were extended to residents of the province of Saint-Louis in Senegal.…”

“…29 Unlike the French, the British colonies were operated on the basis of indirect rule using local power holders, rather than establishing a whole new administration. 30 The actual empire-builders in the French context were military personnel, whereas the British 'spreading out' in West Africa was conducted primarily by merchants, missionaries and commercialists. 31 The British policy reflected devolution of political authority to local agencies and gave them direct responsibility for the territories and to shape policies to meet local needs.…”

“…31 The British policy reflected devolution of political authority to local agencies and gave them direct responsibility for the territories and to shape policies to meet local needs. 32 Although the French passed the enabling law in 1956, which allowed local government for individual territories in West Africa, 33 their notion of assimilation never ceased but rather continued in subtle ways to shape their policies in their former colonies. In this light, the approaches adopted in the post-colonial era to a great extent reflected the policies of the former colonial power with the former British colonies pursuing policies of national control of industries, whilst the former French colonies moved towards collaborative arrangements.…”

Portuguese, French and British discourses on colonial education: Church–State relations, school expansion and missionary competition in Africa, 1890–1930

“…18 From the English side other authors have drawn attention to the fact that in some areas of Africa where traditional political unity did not exist, the British moved away from principles of Indirect Rule and developed centralized patterns of administration. 19 Historical studies based on comparative analysis also clearly show that, in the educational field, French colonial political practice was influenced by British policies, and the principles of Indirect Rule played a part in the colonial administration of France, particularly in West Africa were the nature of administration was hardly consistent with assimilationist aims. 20 If we introduce Portuguese colonial styles into this analysis, we shall see that similar concepts and ideas were part of the colonial ideology at the time, despite marked differences in the educational strategies and outcomes of system building and school expansion in different parts of the Portuguese colonial Empire.…”