Education in Rhodesia

St Georges college in Harare. Image credit youtube.com

• In 1907 the Native Education Ordinance was passed which facilitated the creation of boarding missionary schools for Africans
• African were mainly educated on industrial education
• Orderlies and agricultural demonstrators were the only ones trained whilst those with skills were not so that they would not compete with Europeans for jobs
• Government funding for education was very low
• Most African schools suffered from lack of teachers, books, furniture and had inferior curriculums
• Education became compulsory for all white children but not for blacks in 1930
• The Public Service Act of 1931 excluded the Africans from gaining employment in the civil service
• Secondary education for Africans was introduced after 1940 after the building of Goromonzi secondary school in 1946
• Other missionary schools such as St Augustine and Kutama were then built but they were few as compared to Africans who wanted to learn
• During Garfield’s administration (1953 – 1958), the education of Africans was boosted only to suffer after the Rhodesian Front Government came into power
• Racism was high in schools known as F2 which has a serious bottle neck system that made sure that many students entered but a handful graduated

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