Colonial Literacy Campaign

kernals12

Banned
What if the British decided to eradicate illiteracy in their colonies and teach them all how to speak, read, and write English? What impact would this have on the use of the English language today? How would this affect economic development of the colonies?
 
What is the purpose of such an expensive project? The whole purpose of the British Empire was to guarantee vast markets for its industrial products, which by necessity required inhibiting industrial development in the colonies (the white settlement colonies excepted, as they were extensions of England itself). As long as the colonial subjects understood their orders in their native language, there was no other reason to invest in them.

Not a coincidence that the leaders of the independence movements were all well-educated in the English language and British customs.
 
Eradicating illiteracy seems a little ambitious. Many European countries had not achieved universal literacy by the 1960s, let alone their colonies. But sure, if the British or other European power made a focused effort on their colonies they could have greatly reduced illiteracy.

In the short term I don't see any major changes, but by the 1950s this could have a ripple effect - More agitation for decolonization in the colonies proper, and for equal opportunities in places like South Africa, as populations become more aware of their situation and have a greater desire for political involvement.

Many African nations, like Sierra Leone or Uganda, once independent, could see higher rates of economic growth than in OTL, more stable governance and less bloodshed, as well as more orderly independence movements and better post-war relations with the West.

It wouldn't have been a magical solution to Africa's problems, and the continent would still have suffered from the proxy wars of the Cold War, but it would have helped enormously.
 

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kernals12

Banned
What is the purpose of such an expensive project? The whole purpose of the British Empire was to guarantee vast markets for its industrial products, which by necessity required inhibiting industrial development in the colonies (the white settlement colonies excepted, as they were extensions of England itself). As long as the colonial subjects understood their orders in their native language, there was no other reason to invest in them.

Not a coincidence that the leaders of the independence movements were all well-educated in the English language and British customs.
More productive citizens would yield more revenue for London.
 
More productive citizens would yield more revenue for London.
More productive in what sense? More literate subjects (not citizens, as they won't be represented at Westminster) would be good factory workers, but that leads to industrial development in the colonies, which would collapse the empire's business model. And, once the colonies have developed a sufficiently large industrial base, it would be much more difficult to maintain the empire. So while it was in the empire's interest to cultivate a native elite who was familiar enough with British norms, it was not in the empire's interest for the colonial subjects to be too well educated as to potentially challenge their authority.
 
Given that the English suppressed existing education systems and destroyed literacy (Punjab being an excellent example), such a volte-face in English policy is difficult.
More productive citizens would yield more revenue for London.
There's nothing for them to be productive for in the colonial system. A plantation worker or miner does not need to be literate. Colonies are sources of raw materials for the metropole, and raw material production does not require high literacy, and whatever literacy is required is easily filled by a small elite class. No colonial empire tried mass education for that reason : it made no economic or political sense.
 
Before colonization, most colonies could only afford to educate a few sons of the wealthiest families.
After colonization, only small numbers of native foremen needed to be bilingual. Teaching everyone to read and write would only drive up the cost of labour. The British Empire was only profitable as long as colonial labourers received a pittance for wages and British factory workers were paid barely enough to reproduce.
 
Even in the British Isles there wasn't really a government program to establish universal literacy at the height of the empire in the 19th century so I'm unclear when or why the empire would decide to do this abroad.

Having said that, British institutions did open themselves to subjects from the colonies, and this did have exactly the effect that some people above have already speculated, namely, it spurred protests and decolonization. Gandhi went to University College London. So did Nkrumah, Kenyatta. Nehru went to Cambridge. Both Mugabe and Mandela studied University of London courses via distance ed. I'm sure the list goes on.
 
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