The politics of Catholic education in Zambia: 1891-1964.

Publication: Journal of Church and State

Publication Date: 22-SEP-02

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COPYRIGHT 2002 J.M. Dawson Studies in Church and State

The Catholic Church as represented by the White Fathers (today known as Missionaries of Africa) arrived in Northern Rhodesia (Zambia today (1)) in 1891. Until the arrival of the first Jesuits in 1905, they were the sole Catholics in the territory. As part of their method of evangelization, both the White Fathers and the Jesuits started basic schools almost from the beginning. Within a short time, this led them into ongoing contact with the secular government, which until 1924 was the British South Africa Company (B.S.A.C.) and the colonial government from 1924 to 1964.

This study will focus both on the Catholic societies' initial contact with territorial government and on how the school became the locus of conflicting interests between the Catholic Church and particularly the Protectorate government. Though the B.S.A.C. government made demands like that of the "spheres of influence" policy on churches that were operating schools, it avoided major dashes with the Catholics. However, with the advent of the British Protectorate government in 1924, this changed. As the Catholic Church committed itself more forthrightly to schooling through the interventions of Monsignor Arthur Hinsley, it battled to maintain Catholic schools for Catholic children, as the new government endeavored to ensure that schools would be more professional and multidenominational. We will identify how, despite various ordinances directed at control at the primary level and pressure from both government and other denominations at the higher levels, Catholics substantially retained their schools for their children up to the dawn of Zambia's independence in 1924. Over the period, the concept of "school" expanded. Until 1924, "school" meant primary education to Grade IV level but from 1926 and 1949 it also embraced education at the teacher training and secondary levels.

THE ARRIVAL OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN ZAMBIA

The White Fathers' arrival in Zambia in 1891 was negotiated mainly with local rulers. They formed the first European settlement in Bembaland under the direction of Fr. (later Bishop) Joseph Dupont, more popularly known as Moto-Moto (Fire-Fire). Despite severe criticism from Chitimukulu, Paramount Chief of the Bemba, the Fathers opened another mission at Kayambi in 1895. Dupont made further efforts to penetrate Bemba territory, but Chief Mwamba would not entertain any such idea until in 1898 when he became ill and sent for Dupont whose healing skills had become well known. As a result of what he did for Mwamba, Dupont was appointed successor to the chieftainship. He swiftly informed the governor of the situation and, after consultation with thirty-three local chiefs, he urged the governor of the British South Africa Company (B.S.A.C.) to take control in order to prevent the customary human sacrifices on the death of a chief and possible civil war. On 3 November, the British administrators sent Charles MacKinnon and R.A. Young to take possession of the territory. However, to the astonishment of Dupont, they told him that he had no permission to remain. They informed him that this was the order of Sir Robert Codrington, the new governor. Dupont was not a person to accept a decision of this nature easily, especially since, as he emphasized, he had opened Bembaland to British control. As might be expected, Dupont remained, and, as a gesture of reconciliation on the part of the administration, he was invited to sit beside Codrington at the installation of Mwamba's successor in June 1899. (2) A government post was meanwhile set up in the country. (3)

Some years before, in 1879, the Jesuits had been entrusted with responsibility for what was known as the Zambezi Mission which stretched from the Limpopo river northwards to Congo, present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire). In 1902, Mgr. Sykes, the superior of the Zambezi Mission, contacted Major Codrington at Kalomo and requested a site for a mission. After forwarding the request to the London Office of the B.S.A.C, the Jesuits were granted ten thousand acres in Chief Monze's territory.

Two French Jesuits, Fr. Joseph Moreau and Jules Torrend, arrived in the southern part of Zambia, Chikuni, in 1905. Within a short time, Fr. Moreau's companion, Fr. Torrend, left the Chikuni mission and settled in what is presently Kasisi, some distance from Lusaka. In 1910, because of anti-clerical leadership in Portugal, many preponderantly Polish Jesuits working in Mozambique were forced to leave. As a result, they migrated into Northern Rhodesia and started missions at Kapoche in 1910, Katondwe in 1911, and Chingombe in the Luangwa valley in 1914. In the typical Jesuit tradition of founding schools, Chingombe, Kasisi, and Katondwe soon began catechists training centers. In 1921, Kasisi, through the influence of Fr. Torrend, became the center of the Jesuit missionary endeavor in the area.

Thus the arrival of the Catholic Church in Zambia was negotiated with the B.S.A.C. While the early days in the territory witnessed some difficult times for the White Fathers, it appears that the advent of the Jesuits, like that of most missionary groups, was smooth. In general, the B.S.A.C. was happy to have Christian missionaries in its territory. Yet, while the Company and the Catholic Church appeared to have mutual aims in entering the territory, it is important to note that the Catholic societies came to convert the peoples to Catholicism and were only ready to cooperate with government insofar as this objective was achieved.

B.S.A.C. PERSPECTIVES ON EDUCATION

In 1890, the British South Africa Company gained control of the territory of Northern Rhodesia through the Lochner Concession. (4) However, from the educational point of view, its history for the subsequent thirty-four years was one of consistent neglect. It established only one school during its period of administration, the Barotse National School. Except for this school in the Barotse district, education might be said to have been in the hands of missionaries. (5) The Company assumed no financial responsibility for schooling. Yet, in 1918, it introduced a proclamation demanding the registration of all schools that it defined in such a way as to gain control over any setting where people received instruction. Moreover, anyone found subverting the tribal authority of the chief or headman, or spreading teaching of a seditious tendency, was subject to a large fine. In addition, the proclamation empowered magistrates and native commissioners to inspect schools. These regulations and attempts to control education by the B.S.A.C. were prompted by the Chilembwe revolt in Nyasaland where it was felt that the teachers and those educated by the missions had played a leading role. (6)

Although the B.S.A.C. showed little interest in promoting native schooling, many mission groups who directed schools felt that the Company should share some financial responsibility for education in the territory. Missionaries, in some cases, viewed the 1918 proclamation as government interference without corresponding financial commitment. Because of fairly widespread criticism of the proclamation, the high commissioner instructed the administrator to solicit amendments from missionary representatives. Subsequently, the 1919 Missionary Conference discussed the proclamation at length. In response, the Company replaced the proclamation of 1918 with the Native Schools Proclamation of 1921.

At the 1921 conference, members re-echoed their demand for government aid to missionary education work. Partly as a result, in November 1923, the secretary of state appointed an Advisory Committee on Education in British Tropical Africa. This committee invited the Phelps-Stokes Commission to undertake a survey of whatever schooling was being done in the territories. In 1924, the commission visited Northern Rhodesia and met the General Missionary Conference at Kafue. (7)

CATHOLIC SCHOOLS IN ZAMBIA: 1891-1924

From the early days, though not from the outset, the White Fathers attempted to establish Christian villages. Similarly, the Jesuits concentrated on setting up Christian villages within their area. The Christian village approach of both the White Fathers and the Jesuits entailed basic education, although many of these so-called schools remained rather crude:

Teaching was in the hands of young men who had been given a grounding in the three Rs and a little hygiene and, having acquired the elements of the Catholic faith, were appointed as teacher evangelists. The schools operated a few weeks at a time until the teacher exhausted his material or until the interest of the class evaporated to vanishing point. (8)

It was nonetheless these "schools" that became the missionaries' mode of access to the local population. As a result, it became important for a mission to have a "school" in as many areas as possible. Competition with other denominations proved to be an important motivating factor in opening schools. (9) When a "school" had been established, one could begin to claim a rather exclusive right to the population of the area under what became known as the "spheres of influence" policy. (10) This policy was adopted by the government to settle the claims of conflicting societies, particularly "to limit the operations of the French Fathers whose avowed intention is to establish missions throughout the whole country and to upset the influence of the Protestant Societies." (11)

In general, the Catholics, especially the White Fathers, refused to accept the "spheres of influence" policy. The White Father, Bishop Guilleme, disclaimed concurrence with the spirit of the Missionary Conference where the issue was discussed and stated openly that he could not admit the principle involved by agreeing to reservations of spheres for different missions. (12) Hardly surprisingly, government officials viewed such non-compliance negatively:

I regret having to appear unsympathetic towards the White Fathers for whose devoted labours on behalf of the natives I have the highest regard and with some of whom I had most cordial relations in the past.... From an administrative point of view I am of the opinion that it is not desirable under the present conditions of the territory to have missions teaching widely different doctrines side by side for native concerts and pupils. (13)

As Holmes implies, the White Fathers may not have considered this sort of religious apartheid as an appropriate tribute for the assistance they had rendered the B.S.A.C. in gaining a foothold in Bembaland. As a result, they did not feel obliged to conform to such, at least in their eyes, arbitrary legislation. (14)

The Jesuits appear to have accepted the policy in principle, yet they tended to ignore it when it did not fit their interests, especially in the Katowdwe region. Referring to the Jesuits, the acting secretary for native affairs wrote:

There is now I am afraid a tendency on the part of several missionaries to aim at enlarging their range of influence regardless of their means for providing effective European supervision over the native teachers and preachers. I feel more good would be done with less chance of friction and with leis risk of upsetting the native mind or of disturbing the regular channels of community control if their efforts were devoted to consolidation and sound organization rather than occupying new fields. (15)

However, the Catholics were not the only offenders. In 1910, the White Father superior of Kayambi complained to the district commissioner about the London Mission Society (L.M.S.) trespassing and concluded by warning: "But the Kawimbe Mission may rest assured that we will not withdraw, and retire before them. If they enter our territory, we shall advance into theirs." (16) Schools in the more secular, academic sense of providing other than religious instruction at this stage were probably few. In any case, it would appear that in general the White Fathers were not enthusiastic about them. As Garvey puts it: "Schoolmastering was not popular among White Father missionaries who greatly preferred the physical discomforts of their bush stations to the strict regime and petty restrictions of the seminary." (17) Moreover, according to Garvey, lack of interest in secular learning characterized all White Fathers' missions in Central Africa and reflected their founder's principle that communities should be Christianized with as little as possible disruption of traditional culture. (18) In addition to this lack of desire to tie themselves to a classroom on the part of the White Fathers, there may have been a more serious reason in that the French...

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