The relationship between the mission and the state: An investigation of the early days of Lemana Teachers’ Training College

Abstract

Onderwys in Afrika het sy oorsprong in ? kombinasie van sending en koloniale instellings gehad. Die soort onderwys wat aan inheemse mense in die pre- en post-koloniale era voorsien is, veral dié wat deur sendingskole voorsien is, was gegrond op die Gereformeerde teologie. Die verhouding tussen die sendelinge, koloniale owerhede en plaaslikeswartmense was ingewikkeld en is  gekenmerk deur strydvoeringe, vyandskap, die nastrewing van uiteenlopende belange en allerlei ander konflikte. In hul pogings om hulle hoofdoelstelling te bereik, naamlik ? kerstening van die plaaslike bevolking, het die sendelinge voor spesifieke geografiese, politieke, teologiese, ekonomiese en sosiale uitdagings te staan gekom waarop hulle noodgedwonge moes antwoord. Ten spyte daarvan dat hierdie faktore ? beduidende invloed op die voorsiening van onderwys aan inheemse bevolkings gehad het, word hierdie faktore dikwels in studies oor sendingonderwys misgekyk. In hierdie artikel ontleed ek beide die verhouding tussen die Sweedse Sendinggenootskap en die regering van die dag, en die uitwerking van hierdie verhouding op die opleiding van swartmense aan  die Lemana Onderwysersopleidingskollege.

Education in Africa was started by a combination of missionary and colonial institutions. Education which was provided to indigenous people, especially by mission schools, in the pre and post-colonial era was grounded in the Reformed theology. The relationship between the missionaries, colonial governments and the Africans was a complex one characterised by struggles, antagonism, the pursuit of separate interests and conflicts. In their efforts to achieve their principal aim, namely to convert Africans to Christianity, the missionaries had to deal with and respond to specific geographic, political, theological, economic and social challenges. In most instances, these factors are ignored in missionary studies, even though they had a considerable impact on the provision of education to indigenous people. In this article I analyse the relationship between the Swiss Mission Society and the government of the time, as well as the effect this relationship had on the education of Africans at Lemana Teachers’ Training College.