Topic Four: Colonial Social Services - History Notes Form Three
What Is Colonial Social Services, Colonial Education, Colonial Health Services, Water And Housing, Colonial Electricity Services
Social services were part of colonial government since it was used to ensure that colonial exploitation is archived efficiently and effectively.
It included: -
- Colonial Education
- Colonial Health Services
- Water and Housing
The social services were given priority to -
The colonial officers in order to encourage them.
Workers in order to work and for caring their health.African (Partly officers) because their activities were very important to the colonial administrators thus there was a need to be given clean water and housing.
Veterinaries were provided in order to have good livestock for milk and meet.
COLONIAL EDUCATION
Education refers to the transmission of knowledge, skills and wisdom in society from one generation to another.
Before the introduction of colonial education in Africa there was Traditional Education (Informal education).
Informal education was the type of education in which people acquired education by being taught through different practices. People were taught military techniques and medicine. Learning process was directly related to the pattern of work in the society.
FEATURES OF TRADITIONAL EDUCATION
It was characterized by learning of various issues such as acceptable moral values, medicine, pottery etc.
Early child education was given by parents. Relatives and general community on the basic life.
Safely and security education was conducted as well as general good moral and social conducts were emphasized.
It was based on the development of successive stage by physical emotion and mental.
It was characterized by close link with social life in both material and spiritual senses.
Education was both formal and informal depending on the stage and purpose of learning.
Education was continuous process from childhood to adulthood.
The basic purpose of traditional education was to impart knowledge to individuals.
AIMS OF EDUCATION IN ANY SOCIETY
1. Social Aims
- To impart people’s attitude and behaviours so as to make an individual develop with required social values.
- Provide a language of a communication of a society.
- To teach customs, traditions and history of a given society.
- To enhance respect for the welfare of the society.
- To provide means by which social start and duties are defined.
2. Political Aims
- To prepare individual for the promotion of peace and order in the society.
- To put leadership in proper ruling and administration justice and defense of the nation.
- To interpret various aims units and methods of responsibility.
3. Economic Aims
- To provide knowledge and skills which people need for the livelihood. To teach people various trade necessary in a society.
- To help in the study of the environment and its reaction to exploitation, pastoralism, farming, mining and other aspects.
- To promote economic welfare of commercial agriculture.
COLONIAL EDUCATION IN AFRICA
This was a type of education introduced by colonialists during colonial economy in Africa. It was a form of education established in Africa during colonial rule.
Colonial education was introduced by the Europeans from the last decade of the 18th century. From that period to independent all schools were owned by the missionaries and colonial government.
Colonial education sometimes referred to Formal Education and largely differed from the education during pre-colonial period. However, colonial education was not basically to develop mind of Africa but rather to enable Africans acquire knowledge for effective production.
Enrollment of pupils was based segregation because colonial education had different purposes to different races. To Africans it was intended to produce literate, low paid workers and loyal subjects and to turn African mind against their culture and people. Colonial education provided very little skills while emphasizing on discipline and obedience.
The main aim of colonial education was to train few Africans who could be used to help the colonialist to supervise colonial production and occupying junior administrative posts like clerks, tax collection, typist and messengers.
FEATURES OF COLONIAL EDUCATION
Colonial education had numerous characteristics that differentiated it from the form of education that existed before in Africa.
Some of the characteristics of colonial education were as follows:
It was pyramidal in shape.
Since it intended to produce few scholars, exams were used to filter out unwanted number such that the higher the level the fewer the students.
It was very discriminatory.
There were different schools for different races: Europeans, Asians and Africans. Also Boys were much more enrolled compared to girls. Sons of chiefs and government officials had more access than peasants and other common people. People from production areas had more access than those from labor reserve areas. There were schools for boys only and some few for girls only.
The education was a carbon copy of metropolitan states.
Mostly its system was derived from metropolitan, so this was an irrelevant type of education to Africans.
Supervised by missionaries.
In some colonies like Tanganyika it was mostly left under missionaries
It involved school fees.
Africans were required to pay school fees in order to be enrolled into colonial schools.
Its methodology was theory with very few or no practical, intensive reading and creaming.
Provided in classrooms.
Colonial education was provided in established buildings called classrooms.
It involved educational facilities.
Colonial education involved facilities like exercise books, pens, chalkboards and students were required to wear school uniforms.
It was based in writing of examinations
In every two years in that way fewer learners succeeded.
EFFECTS OF COLONIAL EDUCATION
Positive impacts
- It brought literacy in Africa. Introduction of writing put Africa into better position as Africans as Africans knew how to write and read.
- It became possible for the local people to record their history.
- The education promoted African elites who later became very important in the struggle for independence. Such elites are Nyerere, Nkrumah, Kenyata etc.
- The education helped to bring modernization in Africa.
Negative impacts
- Very few people benefited, created classes in the society
- African culture was despised and foreign culture took the place.
- Made Africans to abandon African activities like hunting, fishing etc.
- The decline of traditional beliefs due to the introduction of Christian religion in Africa.
- Disunity among the people of Africa between the educated and non-educated people.
It created inferiority complex among the Africans as Africans believed that European were the source of what was good and high quality items.
COLONIAL HEALTH SERVICES
Colonial Health Services refers to the medical care treatment provided by colonial state in Africa during colonial era.
Hospitals were mostly established on settlers and government official’s settlement to keep them healthy. In production areas they were established to ensure that labourers survive and continue to facilitate exploitation.
CHARACTERISTICS OF COLONIAL HEALTH SERVICES
It was sold. The Africans had to pay for the treatment.
Number of hospitals and health centers were located in towns where colonial administrators were living.
African doctors were few, most of them were trained to be nurses and medical assistance.
Number of beds in hospitals for Africans were few.
It was class based. The rich people got first treatment while the poor people got poor treatment.
It was curative than preventive since preventive measure could block market for their medicine.
It was racial based services, whites got first priority in treatment i.e. first class treatment while Africans were treated just to make them active.
OBJECTIVES OF THE COLONIAL HELATH SERVICES
Health services aimed at giving medicine to African peasants and labourers in order to maintain the labour power.
It was designed in order to improve the living standard of the whites since they received the best services than the other races.
It aimed at destroying the African medication services.
It aimed at preventing and cure the white imposed diseases such as tuberculosis, sexually transmitted diseases etc.
It aimed at maximizing the interests of capitalism in Africa.
IMPACTS OF COLONIAL HEALTH SERVICES
It expanded the market of western capitalism industry in Africa as Africans consumed various medicine from Europe.
They maintained labour power for plantation, settler and mining sectors of colonial economy.
African herbs were almost replaced by the consumption of western medications.
It strengthened classes during colonial period i.e. the white civil servants, settlers and managers got high quality health services while the African received poor health services.
It provided employment to their people in Africa.
WATER AND HOUSING SERVICES
In the early years of colonial rule, there were no housing and water services offered to the African and Asian employees. It was only after 1945 that the colonial state spent some money to provide housing and water services to the Africans and Asian employees.
Distribution pattern of water and housing services
The provision of water and housing services under colonial government in African colonies was so strategic since the basic distribution pattern considered were:
The administrative areas/centers
Especially urban areas such as Dar es Salaam, Mwanza and Tnaga where colonial officials like Governors and soldiers who were employed by the European to perform their administrative functions lived.
In production areas/centers
In rural areas which was characterized with the establishment of plantations such as coffee production in Kilimanjaro, sisal plantation in Tanga and Morogoro, mining centers and areas with factories for example, cotton ginneries and sisal decortications in Shinyanga, water and housing services were provided so as to facilitate the efficiency in production.
Missionary areas
These were important areas to be provided with water and housing services because missionaries played some big roles in facilitating colonial rule. For example, they encouraged African natives to produce cash crops.
Labour reserve areas/centers
Were also an important pattern where the colonial government provided water and housing to facilitate the availability of massive labour forces for the colonial economy production. For example, areas like Kigoma in Western Tanganyika and Shinyanga, although labourers wre given small houses with poor ventilation which led to overcrowding, few public water wells with little or without treatment.
MOTIVES FOR THE PROVISION OF WATER AND HOUSING SERVICES
Provision of water and housing services during colonialism was to facilitate the economic interests of the capitalist nations.
The provision of water and housing services during colonialism was meant to encourage the European settlement.
To avoid the possibilities of eruption of disease as the colonial government decided to provide clean and safe water to the colonial officers.
IMPACTS OF PROVISION OF COLONIAL WATER AND HOUSING SERVICES
Slums emerged due to lack of adequate shelter.
African civil servants in the colonies got better housing and water services after the Second World War.
Racial discrimination in the provision of water and housing services contributed to the emergence of African welfare associations in urban centers.
African viewed urban centers as a place for temporary settlement after which one would go back to the rural areas as most of the services were provided for the Europeans.
Emergence of illicit activities such as the sale of illegal liquor, theft and drug trafficking took place.
Also it contributed to the emergence of nationalism against colonial injustice for example, Mau Mau liberation war.
It created uneven distribution of water and housing between urban areas and remote areas, hence uneven development in the colonies.
African suffered from diseases such as T.B which was caused by overcrowding