Figure 1.-- This photograph of a settlement school in the Congo Free State was taken about 1902. It was designed to depict a benevolent role that King Leopold and the Belgians were playing in the Congo. In fact, the Belgians had created the most horific colonial regime in Africa. The image of the children praying was designed to show that the population was being Chtistianized--important to Europeans at the time. Notice how similrly the children are clothed. They were probanly given the body wraps. to suggest civilization. Boys that age at the time actially wore little or no clothes. Presumably that is their school in the bckground.

Schools in the Congo are a result of European colonization. As far as we know, there were no formals schools until ther European colonial era. The Democratic Republic of Congo was a Belgian colony until 1960. The Belgian Congo covered an emense area of central Africa. King Leopold administered the colony as the Congo Free State. It was essentially his own private fiefdom and terrible attrocities were committed by the Belgians during his reign. As far as we know, no substantil effort was made by the Congo Free State to educate the Congolese. We do see settlement schools. Roman Catholic missionaries opened some mision schools. Protesrabt misionaries were also active. And because very small numbers of Belgians moved to the Congo, there was little need to set up schools for Belgian children. We notice photographs of what were called settlement schools. Settlement houses was a term used to assist the poor in the expanding industrial cities. In the Congo, settlement meant the communities the Belgians supervised and used as administratuve centers. Most were along the Congo River and other riversrs, because there were no improved roads and very limited rail lines. We are not sure what to make of these images of settlement school. We have not been able to find much infirmation about them. The missionaries may have operated some schools, but we are not sure if they were involved in the settlement schools. We have no idea of the type and level of instruction at these schools. We suspect that an important purpose of the settlement schools was to assist with King Leopolds propaganda that he was bringing civilization and Christianity to the Congo. The settlement schools were this very useful in promoting that image. We are not sure how many there were and the number of children that they educated. It would have been a very small part of the popultion, most Congo children had no access to education.

Created: 11:18 PM 11/21/2015
Last updated: 11:18 PM 11/21/2015