German East Africa - Education

Education

Germany developed an educational program for Africans that involved elementary, secondary and vocational schools. "Instructor qualifications, curricula, textbooks, teaching materials, all met standards unmatched anywhere in tropical Africa." In 1924, ten years after the beginning of the First World War and six years into British rule, the visiting American Phelps-Stokes Commission reported: "In regards to schools, the Germans have accomplished marvels. Some time must elapse before education attains the standard it had reached under the Germans."

One of the influences of this German development of education in their colony is the word "shule" (from "schule" in German) that means school. Since Germans were the first colonialists to establish a solid educational program in East Africa, the word "shule" has been borrowed into the Swahili language, the lingua franca of East Africa.

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