| dc.description.abstract | The Coast Province is among the most "underdeveloped" areas of
Kenya in the provision of Western education. Inactivity within the
province has commonly been ascribed to the prevalence of disease,
Moslem predominance and friction with Christianity. The dissertation
explores these environmental and cultural factors, together with the
more institutional and financial aspects of educational policy.
This regional history of education considers, in particular,
the period before the government's attempt at closer administration and
the systematization of education that took place in the e~rly 1920s and
then proceeds to discuss first the provision of schooling in the period
1925-1950 and secondly the magnification of inequality in the period,
1950-1963.
The foundation of Western education before World War I was
through mission schools. However, Western education made little headway
among Moslems who suspected that their children would be proselytized.
In the Coast Province special consideration was given to the Arab
communities in the protectorate but their former slaves were not a
subject of reform and were largely ignored.
State educational policy calling for government-missionary
"cooperation" in matters concerning African education did little to
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improve opportunities among Africans in the province. By the 1920s the
province was weakly occupied by the four main missionary organizations,
namely the Church Missionary Society, the Methodist Missionary Society,
the German Congregationalists of Neukirche~ and a Roman Catholic order,
the Holy Ghost Fathers. Taita-Taveta District, wnich was strongly
occupied by the C.~l.S. and the Holy Ghost Fathers, became largely
Christianized and benefited from considerable educational opportunities.
Tana River District faced setbacks when the Neukirchen missionaries
were twice deported following the outbreak of each World War. Educational
work by missionaries in Kilifi District remained modest, while
that in Kwale District was quite discouraging.
In addition to missionary supervision, local demand and, economic
resources were important factors in establishing and maintaining
schools. The agencies which interpreted demand we re the Local Native
Councils, L.N.Cs., created in the mid-1920s primarily.to extend and
refine colonial administration. The local taxes as levied and
distributed by the four above named. and authorized districts of the
Coast Province demonstrated a considerable dLv ersi.ty of commitment to
education. The Taita-Taveta situation most approximated 'that obtaining
in the central highlands of the country where appropriations for
education exceeded the proportions approved by the administration.
In Kilifi and Kwale districts expenditure was low. In the two ;
protectorate districts of Lamu and Mombasa exc Lude d from the legislation
constituting L.N.es., education of Africans was virtually
ignored.
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In some ways the protectorate came to symbolize the effects of
a colonial caste system in the provision of social services including
education. The evidence from this region is especially strong in
showing how Indians and to a lesser extent Arabs were provided with
expensive schools and training for the responsible middle positions in
the colonial society. In contrast only a small percentage of African
children was encouraged to pursue "industrial" training:
The attempt to "reform" education through measures of the sort
proposed by the Beecher Report served between 1950 and. 1963 to mollify
discontent and prepare for decolonization. In actuality. the formulae
allowed the rich L.N.C. districts to benefit far more than the poor
ones in the Coast Province. Within the protectorate, almost nothing
was done to provide even primary educational services to Africans. The
inequalities inherent in the coastal region before colonial rule had
not only been sustained but also exacerbated both by the racially
divided and stratified school system and by the policies for funding
through the Local Native Councils. | en |
