Educational Development in Western Libya 1942-1952: a Critical Assessment of the Aims, Methods and Policies of the British Military Administration
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EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN WESTERN LIBYA 1942-1952: A CRITICAL ASSESSMENT OF THE AIMS, METHODS AND POLICIES OF THE BRITISH MILITARY ADMINISTRATION. by Leonard Alban Appleton a thesis submitted for the degree of PhD as an external student of the University of London on 29 June, 1992. ProQuest Number: 11010315 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 11010315 Published by ProQuest LLC(2018). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 ABSTRACT Unlike Cyrenaica, where educational development under the B.M.A. was modelled upon the system operating in Egypt, that adopted in Tripolitania at the start of the British Administration in 1943 had no such correlation. Instead the former Italo-Arab Schools merely continued with the Arabic Language replacing Italian without the support of modem textbooks, cuiriculum or examinations. Also unlike Cyrenaica, where the British Government assured the population that there would be no return of Italian rule, Tripolitania continued until the mid-forties under the expectation that Italian sovereignty might be returned to the territory. Consequently, the B.M.A. was unable to adopt a similar pattern of educational development for Tripolitania until the future of the territory was clear. The final adoption of the Egyptian Curriculum in 1948 came too late to effectively enable the educational system operating in Egypt to be put into practice in the territory before Independence in 1951. Nonetheless, despite political uncertainty, inadequate resources of money and teachers, the B.M.A., in Tripolitania was able to make significant progress between 1943 and 1951 in reversing the neglect of Arab education which it had inherited from the former Italian regime. In the latter respect, it more than fulfilled the requirements made of it by International Law, despite the severe budgetary restraints imposed by the policy of Care and Maintenance, which restricted its role in education as in other areas of activity. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The writing and preparation of this thesis over more than ten years has necessarily involved meeting and corresponding with a wide range of persons, many of whom were directly or indirectly involved in the setting up and administration of the B.M.A.'s in either Libya or East Africa. The need to establish contact with such personnel while they were still alive has necessarily delayed the final result. The time was, however, well spent not only from an interest point of view, but also in enabling me to considerably widen the written sources by obtaining additional information, much of it in the form of correspondence; or through interviews with the people concerned. Most of all this has provided unique insights, much of which could not have been obtained from the perusal of official documents or secondary source material. This has also provided access to unpublished M.S. and other material not in public repositories. Firstly, I would like to thank my supervisor, Dr. Richard Pankhurst, of Addis Abeba University, Ethiopia, for his kind and steadfast support throughout the whole of this period. Arranging for supervision meetings, when both parties were employed overseas was entirely due to his hospitality and patience, without which the final result could not have been achieved. May I also thank the staff at the London University Higher Degrees Office for their attention to my many queries; the staffs at Durham University, Middle Eastern Department; the Maraff Library, Tripoli; the Library of the School of Oriental and African Studies, London University; and the many other libraries and repositories in Britain and Italy whose assistance was so invaluable in completing this work. Finally, I must thank those participants, both major and minor, of the former B.M.A's but for whose contributions the final result could not have been achieved. According to their former rank, may I thank Brigadier Travers Blackley and his wife for their hospitality and invaluable assistance; Mr E.V. de Candole, for his hospitality and profound grasp of the issues involved; Sir Maurice Lush, Sir Dennis Cumming and Sir Norman Anderson for their comments, correspondence and unfailing interest and assistance. Also amongst the major players, I must especially thank Major A.J. Steele-Greig, whom I was fortunate to be able to extensively interview at his home in St. James, Barbados, and for a long correspondence until his most recent illness. The former "Sheikh Lea" and his wife who put me in touch with a range of minor but not unimportant players and contributors, such as A. Theobald, C. Tracey, R.A. Hodgkin, P.M. Holt, and many others too numerous to mention for whose remarks, letters and advice I remain grateful. Lastly, I must thank my many friends, colleagues and contacts, who in a range of different institutions and places, have endured my long interest and fascination with this topic, which must frequently have been of considerably less interest to them.. These include my mother, Agnes Allen, Julian Peach and Ian Richardson, Mr Tom Grogan of Cardinal Manning School and many former employers who were so generous in allowing me to use their time and facilities in producing the finished result BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE Bom at Warrington in the county of Lancashire on 29th June 1937,1 was initially educated locally, before attending Le Botler Grammar School until aged sixteen, when I enrolled at the Liverpol College of Technology where I obtained City and Guilds First Class three years later. Instead of at this point entering the family business, as my parents wished, I became a Catholic and commenced studies for the Roman priesthood at Campion House, Osterley Park. Doubts about my vocation and National Service however intervened before I could complete my studies, with the result that I spent 1958-60 with the 28th Field Ambulance then at Hohne in West Germany. Following demobilisation, I enrolled at Nottingham University, graduating in 1964 in History, English and Philosophy. Needing to find employment quickly, my career in the schools began immediately and I took up several teaching positions over the next few years. In 1972, however, I left my position in History at St. Thomas Aquinas Grammar School to start work as a foreign language teacher at King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah. This reorientation towards the Arab World then gathered pace with three years at Tripoli University, followed by three years as a research student at Kings College, London University, where in 1980 I was awarded an M.Phil. in Education. Again needing a job, in December 1979,1 resumed my Middle-Eastern teaching career with a post at Jeddah Port, followed after a year by three years at Azzawia Training Centre, Tripoli, after which I returned for several years to King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah. It was during this latter period that I developed the present Ph.D. project with numerous visits and interviews with survivng members of the British Military Administrations. 1988, however again saw me back in England, where I recommenced my school mastering career first at the London Oratory, then at Cardinal Manning Boys’ School, where I became Librarian and Head of History, taking early retirement with the closure of the school on 19th July 1991. In 1987 having resolved to retire to the Mediterranean, I acquired a house South of Valencia, near Gandia and I am at present commuting between there and Ras La Nuf Refinary j Libya, where I continue to teach English, until the villa has been adapted for educational purposes. As I am at present also preparing papers on educational developments under the Kingdom and Jamahiriyah, hopefully an educational history of Libya will eventually conclude these researches. v "We have arrived at a milestone in the war. We can say: one continent redeemed !" (Sir Winston Churchill in his speech to the United States Congress at the close of the North African Campaigns.) "The greatest need of the country was for educational development. Even in the early days the B.M.A. had endeavoured to supply this." (P.G.Sandison. Unpublished Memoirs.) "A very cogent fact to remember, too, is that while there are only a few hundred individuals at the university level, there must be nearly 300,000 at the primary stage of Libyan education." (W.F.Vietmeyer, Primary Teacher Training, July 1965 -15 November, 1969) "The trouble with history is it's like a mole - it burrows away month after month and year after year without anyone ever noticing very much." (Russian Dissident, circa 1984. "The Libyan Arab People have endured harsh sufferings from the reactionist, ideological domination, Eastern and Western invasion and infiltration." (Ministry of Information and Culture, Tripoli, L.A.R., 1st September Revolution Achievements, 5th Anniversary, 1969 - 1974, The Cultural Aspect: Cultural Revolution, p. 13. vi ABBREVIATIONS: A.C.S. - Archivo Centrale dello Stato, Roma. A.P.C.D. - Atti Parliamentari, Camera dei Deputati A.S.M.A.I. - Archivo Storico ex-Ministero dell'Africa Italiana (Minister© degli Affari Esteri), Roma. B.M.A. - British Military Administration B.U.C. - Bollettino Ufficiale del Ministero delle Colonie e successivamente Bollettino Ufficiale del Ministero dellAfrica Italiana B.U.Cir. - Bollettino Ufficiale del Govemo della Cirenaica B.U.L. - Bollettino Ufficiale del Govemo della Libia B.Pers. - Bollettino del Personale del Ministero delle Colonie B.U.T.