The structure, distribution and role of education in the Cape Colony, 1849 - 1909
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Date
2025
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University of the Western Cape
Abstract
The role of human capital as a central factor in economic development has long been established. There are many theories and empirical factors that prove this assumption. More recently, economists and economic historians have investigated the long-term development of human capital and in particular education and how this has influenced countries' performance. Africa has not gone unnoticed with inquiries into its colonial past and how this affected human capital development. While little has been done on informal human capital like skills passed from generation to generation, more focus has been placed on the formal human capital measured through education and schooling. This formal schooling often started with missionary schools and colonial institutions leading to its expansion during the nineteenth century. The Cape Colony was no exception to this. A school was established at the slave lodge for the slaves, but the education they received was very limited. Later the colony too, experienced growth in the mission schools but also had public schools and farm schools. While some research has been done on the missionary stations, there is no systematic analysis of education from various angles. This thesis proposes to examine the education system of the Cape Colony. The focus of the thesis will be on both the demand and supply side factors of education. It will probe aspects like the structure of the schooling system, the types of schools that were present in the colony, scholar enrolment and attendance, the distribution of Private Farm schools, and the outcomes in terms of literacy. Various data sources are used such as Census data and Superintendent General of Education reports. This thesis has shown that through colonialism, education was brought to the Cape, however, it predominantly served its European settlers. The rate of literacy varied sharply between White and Coloured races throughout the nineteenth century. Literacy rates did however increase for all inhabitants of the Cape Colony including the Coloured population. Private Farm schools were also instrumental in bringing schools to the children and expanding the reach of education in the Cape Colony.
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Keywords
Education, Human capital, Colonialism, Cape Colony, Literacy