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59
Q
Apart from school education the United Missions were anxious to initiate some scheme of welfare work. Considerable stress had been laid in the Report on the Copperbelt disturbances upon the importance of the provision of suitable literature and the Missions hoped to help with this provision. Facilities for recreation and women's work were also needed.
The present situation in the Copperbelt was unsatisfactory, not only from the point of view of education, but generally. There were many elements of uncertainty, no Mission was fully informed as to the work which other Missions were going to undertake, and a difficult position consequently arose. There were 3,000 children of school age on the Copperbelt but until recently hardly any schools had been provided. The younger children loitered about the compounds and picked up bad habits, while the older boys put bad habits into practice. The Copperbelt disturbances had shown that these older children had become a real danger to society. (In passing, the Bishop mentioned that in any scheme for their welfare it must be remembered that children in this area had an advantage over other children in that they were well fed and their physical condition good.)
It was proposed that school buildings should be established at each mine and that the Missions should provide six teachers for each school. These teachers would work under the direction of one of the ministers of religion who would be resident, one at each mine and who would naturally be persons with native experience. The scheme also included the appointment of an educationist whose services would be utilized by all of these schools. At present the Missions were the only bodies who could supply teachers in this area. The teachers would be very carefully selected, would be of good character and appreciative of the importance of religious instruction and religious needs. The mining authorities were inclined to take the line that the building of schools contribu- was the business of the Government, and showed little willingness to make any tion themselves. But he had been led to understand that some of the mines might possibly contribute half the cost of the buildings. Little progress could be made until this question had been settled. And when schools were built the question of fees would arise. In view of the many attractions outside the schools the children might in any case not attend regularly, and if fees were insisted upon the attendance might be still poorer.
He believed that the Government and the mining authorities were opposed to any kind of compulsion, but if the attendance of the children was irregular it was doubtful whether the schools would be much use. He sometimes wondered whether pressure could be brought to bear on the children in the way resorted to by their parents, i.e. by reducing their allowance of food. The parents were generally anxious for the children to attend school. In the villages the parents had very little control over their children and in the Copperbelt area still less.
He understood that the Nkana mine preferred to have schools inside the compound but wished them to be run by Government or by the mine management with Government help. The other two mines preferred schools outside the compound and would be willing for the Missions to run them so long as they were not involved in inter-Mission disputes. There was a feeling in the mines that the Missions would be antagonistic towards each other, but he himself did not believe this. The present scheme of missionary co-operation would largely eliminate all danger of this.
It must be realized that, whatever scheme was finally agreed upon, the mine compound was a most undesirable environment for children or youths. When the present scheme had been prepared he had been told that there was no possibility of the children being removed from the compound, but since then it had been suggested that children over elementary school age should be sent away, probably back to their own villages, where they would be placed under the care of relatives.
In reply to a question the Bishop said that a number of the mine workers came from Nyasaland. One of the difficulties in any scheme for removing the children was that transport facilities would have to be afforded by the Government. Directly the question of removing the children was faced the views of the parents and the mining authorities had to be considered. The latter kept a close watch on the parents and the parents would be opposed to the proposal. He added that he was in favour of a compulsory short-period contract.
The Bishop agreed that even if the proposal to send away children over elementary school age were to be put into effect, there would still be a great deal of work for the United Missions to do among the younger children and the adults. The men employed in the mines left their wives behind, but they took other wives in the Copperbelt, so there would always be children on the mines. He did not know if a great deal would be gained by endeavouring to remove the bulk of the children from the mines. A short service system, though helpful, would not perhaps be so satisfactory from the point of view of the mining authorities.
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MR. MAYHEW asked what financial support would be needed for the upkeep of the staff.
THE BISHOP said that the Government undertook to give two-thirds of the wage of a teacher holding a Government certificate and all teachers employed would hold such a certificate. It was admitted, he thought, that teachers in the mining areas would have to be paid more than those in the villages, owing to the higher cost of living. The Missions were prepared to differentiate. But when the Government first took the matter up, they had insisted that the Missions were not paying the teachers high enough salaries; that they could not expect to obtain or keep efficient teachers if they were paid so little; and that teachers must be paid on a scale which would compare favourably with the salaries which they might reasonably hope to obtain in other occupations open to them. The Government had accordingly suggested a scale on which wages would rise from 20s. to 40s, a month, and had offered, if this were accepted, to contribute two- thirds of the cost. This scale the Bishop regarded as a grave mistake, although he admitted that the Scottish Mission had been and were paying up to 40s. a month.
Replying to further questions the BISHOP said the native artisan in the mines was paid 17s. 6d. a month, plus food and housing, which was good pay for Northern Rhodesia. For the most part the schools in European areas were Government schools. Where the Mission employed a teacher in the European settlement a higher salary had to be paid. The training for teachers was long, there was a big wastage, and he did not think any Mission would find it easy to procure enough teachers, partly because the Missions were much hampered by what the Missions had suffered a few years ago when their grants and the number of teachers were reduced. Teachers were trained at various schools, each of the larger Missions having a training centre. The Government were now training teachers at Mazabuka but none of them had had any Secondary education. In Northern Rhodesia the demand for teachers seemed inexhaustible.
Asked whether adequate teachers could be obtained at the salary offered the Bishop admitted that this could be arranged only at some cost to the villages, which were already short of teachers. The mining authorities had agreed to give every facility for the buildings and would provide brick and corrugated iron. They had however no buildings which they could place at the disposal of the Missions.
In reply to a question from SIR JAMES CURRIE, the Bishop said there had been no proposals made for technical training, as the mining authorities considered it better for their workers to learn on the mines. The primary object of the present scheme was to give the children a general grounding and improve their intelligence. But the question of education was only more urgent in this area because of the congestion.
MR. MAYHEW referred to the view of the Director of Native Education that, if an educationist were appointed to supervise these Mission Schools, he might find the work insufficient to occupy his whole time. He suggested that such an officer might act as a liaison officer between the Missions and the Government, advising the former generally on their educational work. THE BISHOP thought this a possible solution.
The Committee agreed that they could make no recommendation unless and until detailed proposals were received and referred to them by the Secretary of State.
THE CHAIRMAN thanked the Bishop for the information that he had been good enough to give the Committee.
6. Training of Women Teachers in the Dependencies. MR. MAYHEW said that his Memorandum (A.C.E.C. 11/37) on this subject, which had been circulated, explained the arrangements which the Board of Education were willing to make so as to allow teachers from the dependencies to take at the end of a teacher training course the same examination as would be taken by candidates from the United Kingdom.
He considered it would be desirable if the Committee could obtain information regarding Training Colleges which would be suitable for receiving women from various regional areas in the Dependencies, particularly African women,
DR. BURSTALL said she had had an opportunity of visiting certain Training Colleges. She had been very much impressed with those she had seen and had heard about the excellence of others. As far as her knowledge was concerned she would be very glad to make suggestions in regard to Colleges. She remarked that local and climatic considerations arose to some extent in this connexion. Chichester, for example, had certain advantages in this respect over Colleges situated in the North of England.
MR. MAYHEW thought it important that African women should be discouraged from coming to England without giving previous notice.
PROFESSOR CLARKE suggested that the Training Colleges Association in this country should be approached but preferably not as an Association, for information regarding suitable Colleges. An informal confidential talk could be arranged with the President. This suggestion was noted.