10%
•
*
Moreover, a Government may hold that certain kinds of education are more suitably given by religious bodies than by Government Lastly, as is recognised in the Memorandum quoted above, the greatest importance must be attached in all areas, where contact with civilization tends to weaken tribal authority and the sanctions of existing beliefs, to religious beliefs and moral instruction. It is recognition of this need that impels Government to desire to assist forms of education which rest on the basis of religious beliefs
1
"THE CONTROL OF AIDED EDUCATION
(3).
The statement of policy to which we have referred does not necessarily imply a close or detailed control of aided educational institutions by Government. Subject to the general direction of educational policy reserved to the Government in the Memorandum that we have quoted, the utmost elasticity in school management and curricula is desirable, if education is not to be robbed of all its colour and all the contributions that the local circumstances and personality are capable of making. If aid is given only to institutions that are managed and taught by the right kind of person, the more freedom that can be given to such managers and teachers the better.
19
It is therefore the definite policy of His Majesty's educational advisors in London that " the utmost elasticity in school management " be allowed to Grant Schools in His Majesty's Colonies.
Government Proposals entail Restriction of Liberty.
The Government proposals, however, necessarily entail very serious curtailment of this guaranteed liberty and freedom, and for this reason:
The Government Proposal, briefly but essentially, is this: to calculate the Block Grant solely by the difference between the Estimated Income from Fees and the approved Estimated Expenditure of the School. The necessary corollary is that both Income and Expenditure must, directly or indirectly, be controlled by Government. This is not denied by the Government Educational Authorities; nor will it beseriously questioned that the substitution of a Triennial Block Grant instead of an annual variable Grant does nothing to change this, but merely postpones the day when there will be no margin on the running of the school. Indeed, this is precisely the object of these proposals: to ensure, by means of Government supervision, that every cent of taxpayers' money given for education in this Colony is actually spent, without margin or residue, within each triennium.
Memorandum on Educational Policy in British Tropical Africa
(Cmd. 2374), issued with the sanction of the Secretary of State for the Colonies in March, 1925.