The Transvaal from Within: A Private Record of Public AffairsFitzpatrick, Percy
History
The Transvaal from Within: A Private Record of Public Affairs
Fitzpatrick, Percy
Jameson's Raid, 1895-1896; Transvaal (South Africa) -- Politics and government -- 1880-1910
These were matters which more immediately concerned persons of
certain means. There is another matter, however, which very directly
concerned every individual who had any intention of remaining in the
country; that is, the matter of education. A dead set had always been
made by the Transvaal Government against any encouragement of liberal
education which would involve the use or even recognition of the
English language. Indeed, some of the legislators have been known to
express the opinion that education was not by any means desirable, as
it taught the rising generation to look with contempt on the hardy
Voortrekkers; and an interesting debate is on record, in which
members pointedly opposed the granting of facilities for the
education of their own women-kind, on the ground that presently the
women would be found reading books and newspapers instead of doing
their work, and would soon get to know more than their fathers,
husbands, and brothers, and would, as a consequence, quickly get out
of hand. It did not seem to occur to these worthy gentlemen that the
proper course would be to educate the men. But it would not be fair
to take this view as the representative one. On the point of the
English language, however, and the refusal to give any facilities for
the education of Uitlander children, the Boer legislature is
practically unanimous. The appalling consequences of allowing the
young population to grow up in absolute ignorance were realized by
the people of Johannesburg, and efforts were constantly made to
induce the Government to recognize the evil that was growing in the
State. The efforts were so entirely unsuccessful that the Uitlanders
found in this as in other cases that nothing would be done unless
they did it for themselves. A fund was opened, to which very liberal
donations were made. The services of a Director-General were secured,
and an Educational Council was elected. A comprehensive scheme of
education--in the first place for the Rand district, but intended to
be extended ultimately for the benefit of the whole of the Uitlander
population in the Transvaal--was devised, and it was calculated that
in the course of a few years a fund of close upon half a million of
money would be required, and would be raised, in order to place
educational facilities within the reach of the people. Needless to
say, this did not at all square with the policy of the Transvaal
Government, and the scheme was looked upon with the utmost disfavour.
In order to defeat it, the Superintendent-General of Education, Dr.
Mansvelt, a Hollander, who for six years had degraded his high office
to the level of a political engine, felt himself called upon to do
something--something to trail the red herring across the too hot
scent; and he intimated that more liberal measures would be
introduced during the Session of 1895, and in his report proposed
certain amendments to the existing law, which would (in appearance,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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