Education for Environment¹

Abstract

UNTIL a few years ago the various local governments merits in British Africa could justly have been accused of indifference to the educational needs of the native peoples committed to their care. Within the past few years, however, these same governments have given welcome evidence of their growing belief in education as the principal factor in the development of the capacities of the African peoples, and the need for supplementing the work of the various missionary bodies in the field of education. They have been given much encouragement in their efforts to improve native education by the Advisory Committee on Education in the Colonies, which from its inception has had at its command the services of Major Hanns Vischer, who combines a genuine enthusiasm for education with an almost unique knowledge of the peoples of Africa and a sympathetic understanding of their needs. Equally important has been the stimulus given to educationists in Africa by Mr. Ormsby-Gore, Mr. Jesse Jones and his associates, and the members of the Hilton-Young Commission, all of whom have visited Africa within the past six years.