African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 861: Chapter 165: Centralization of Educational Resources

April 1892.

First Town.

”In our country, there are currently more than five thousand town-level administrative units, typically comprising about five or six villages and one street, with populations ranging from several thousand to nearly ten thousand people,” said Gers, the director of the National Bureau of Statistics.

East Africa, influenced by immigration, actually has relatively concentrated local populations. It’s certainly not feasible with fewer pioneering populations.

Furthermore, the early East African natural and social environment was harsh, with indigenous peoples and wild animals posing threats to East African immigrants. Hence, village sizes were not small; villages with only a dozen people or even fewer were nonexistent in East Africa. They had to have populations of at least several hundred, with larger villages reaching a thousand in scale.

Moreover, East Africa’s terrain is primarily highlands, and overall, the national topography is relatively flat and open, so there are fewer small mountain villages restricted by terrain.

Additionally, for ease of management, the East African government would proactively concentrate populations in one place, as population mobility in East Africa was mainly guided by the government.

However, the scale of towns and villages in East Africa isn’t very large. Every year, East African populations, under policy support, disperse inland or into undeveloped areas, forming new settlements.

This leads to naturally high population growth rates in the eastern regions, but the actual residing population isn’t excessive, as people are constantly relocating to new areas for life or work.

Ernst said, ”The countryside is the primary population hub in East Africa, with about forty million people living in rural areas, accounting for nearly eighty percent of the national population. Therefore, revitalizing the rural economy should center around towns to drive local economic development.”

”And to revitalize the rural economy, it should start with public resources like educational resources. This should be done sooner rather than later. Universities can be concentrated in cities, but there’s no need to do so for primary and secondary education.”

”In addition, the same goes for medical resources. We lack modern medical personnel, so traditional medicine clinics can be set up in the countryside, with limited medical resources concentrated in cities and above.”

In East Africa, there isn’t the administrative concept of counties. However, this is only in terms of wording; practically, many cities are counties. Of course, cities where provincial governments are based are exceptions.

In East Africa, the population isn’t dense relative to the land area, so there’s no need to subdivide excessively. After all, there are over twenty provinces, even as many areas still aren’t designated as provinces. For example, Mozambique and Angola, the southwestern part of Africa, etc., still don’t meet the requirements to establish provinces, thus they are managed through a secondary administrative mechanism.

Overall, East Africa’s administrative divisions will remain unstable in the short term. To achieve overall stability, it will require relatively balanced development across all East African regions.

Such balance shouldn’t prioritize economic conditions; otherwise, cities like Dar es Salaam City and Mombasa, which are major cities in East Africa, would qualify. It mainly depends on comprehensive capabilities such as economy, population, geographic location, infrastructure, etc.

In fact, some towns in East Africa have economic conditions not inferior to cities, and sometimes far better, such as Dedradawa town on the northern border and Shao Kui town in southern Mozambique.

Yes, although Shao Kui is just a former Portuguese small town, its fundamental conditions surpass many cities in East Africa. It’s just that current conditions in Mozambique aren’t sufficient for Shao Kui to be established as a city.

Dedradawa town is quite special, being a military stronghold with no other large population centers nearby, so it remains under town-level administrative classification. Indeed, it could certainly be designated as a prefecture-level city in the Northern Province.

However, these administrative divisions actually hold little significance, as East Africa is currently underdeveloped. Many areas have yet to have their locational advantages realized, and they could be promoted or demoted for various reasons, which is a real possibility.

For instance, in the west and north, many prefecture-level cities were abolished due to natural disasters, while some regions have become new regional centers due to changes in transportation conditions.

Of course, major cities in East Africa are relatively stable, as many regions were directly designated by Ernst, following the administrative divisions of Africa in the past life, especially evident within the original territory of Tanzania.

Certainly, to some extent, East African cities have inherited the influence of the original regional civilizations. These African natives, despite having low levels of civilization, had places that stood the test of history for centuries when it came to choosing their regions.

However, there aren’t many such places. African natives primarily had tribal governance, with many East African tribes centered on nomadism and hunting without fixed residences.

Moreover, the time Black people arrived in various parts of Africa probably wasn’t too long ago, like in the South African region. The arrival of West African Black people there nearly coincided with that of European colonizers, with the Zulu Kingdom, which was eradicated by East Africa, being the pioneer.

The commercial activities of Arabs in Africa also catalyzed the formation of some East African settlements, like Dodoma City, which originally was a commercial crossroads for Arabs venturing inland.

Lastly, there were towns and posts inherited from other colonizers. East Africa did many such inheritances, with Portugal making the largest contribution to East Africa.

In fact, most of the southern territories of East Africa were acquired from the Portuguese. These areas had either been colonized by Portugal or had some Portuguese commercial activities.

Take Zanzibar Sultanate, for instance. Zanzibar Sultanate was actually a spoil gained by the Omani Empire after defeating Portugal.

In early African colonization, Portugal was unrivaled, but during the 18th to 19th centuries, the Portuguese Empire declined, causing the Portuguese to be driven off the mainland by indigenous peoples to the coast. This provided East Africa with an opportunity to rise in Africa.

In other words, it was actually due to early strategic retrenchment by Portugal in Africa, leaving a vacuum period that East Africa seized.

After Portugal’s withdrawal, other powers remained unaware of Portugal’s true strength, creating a colonial vacuum in southern Africa. East Africa exploited this void, and by the time Portugal and other major powers reacted, East Africa had already grown significantly.

”Currently, rural population distributions in East Africa are primarily concentrated in the east-central region, while the central region is slightly weaker, though it barely meets the standards. Additionally, with the stronger city capabilities in the central area, further enhancements to its rural areas can proceed in an orderly manner.”

”Take education as an example; there should be at least two secondary schools established in each town. Those with capabilities can build two campuses, while those without financial strength can share one campus. For primary schools, population density should be the main reference, preferably choosing locations with convenient transportation. After all, primary school students evidently have less independent living ability compared to secondary students, and they need to return home nearby. Hence, it’s best to choose locations closer to centers.”

”Education resources at the grassroots level should be concentrated at the town level. Of course, large villages or farms and plantations with better conditions and larger populations can also build schools.”

Educational resources shouldn’t be overly dispersed nor overly centralized, especially basic education. Excessive dispersion requires extensive investment and complicates teacher allocation, while overcentralization isn’t conducive to learning for students in remote areas.

Of course, this also marks a significant change in East Africa’s compulsory education model, no longer devolving into villages. This aligns with East Africa’s current societal development and future economic and transportation factors.

With the popularization of livestock power and road improvements, along with improved security conditions, travel costs have significantly reduced. In the future, with developments in automobiles and other new transportation, travel costs will further decrease, making the further concentration of grassroots educational resources feasible in East Africa.

Moreover, it aids in enhancing education quality, as many village primary school teachers are limited in number, with uneven levels. Concentrating them can increase efficiency and foster teacher exchanges, boosting teaching standards.