Page 58 - Afrika Must Unite

C H A P T E R FIVE

T H E I N T E L L E C T U A L V A N G U A R D

T h e h i s t o r y of hum an achievement illustrates that when an
awakened intelligentsia emerges from a subject people it becomes
the vanguard of the struggle against alien rule. There is a direct
relation between this fact and the neglect of the imperial powers
to provide for the proper growth of educational facilities in their
colonies. I saw this connection quite soon in my career, and it
was one of the m ain reasons why I became a teacher for a time.
The tremendous enthusiasm for education in Africa never
fails to impress visitors. A schoolboy once wrote: T think the
happiest event in my life was the day when my father told me to
go to school.’1 Another said: ‘The most unfortunate thing that
could happen to me would be to have had no education, or to be
sent away from school now, for then all my life would be
wasted.’2 The burning desire for education among both children
and adults received little encouragement from the colonial
powers, and one of the worst legacies of colonialism has been the
absence of a trained body of African technicians and ad­
ministrators.
A brief glimpse at the educational position in various parts of
Africa will illustrate my point. In Northern Rhodesia, in 1960,
only 43 per cent of African children of school age were at school;
and only 1.1 per cent of those who reached the eligible age for
secondary education received it. The 1954 report for Southern
Rhodesia showed only 16.5 per cent of the school potential
actually at school. In Kenya, the Government provided hardly
any schools for Africans until the 1930s, so the Kikuyus created
their own. They formed the Kikuyu Independent Schools
Association. To provide teachers, Peter Koinange founded the
1 Jack Woddis: Africa, the Roots of Revolt, Lawrence & W ishart i960, p. 157.
2 ibid.