Dr Rita Pemberton
THE NOTION of emancipation of the enslaved population in the British-colonised Caribbean conjured up fears of violent retribution to the planting community and total mayhem in the region in the years after enslavement ended.
Planting communities across the region were highly agitated over this possibility, which engaged the attention of the imperial administrators.
In an effort to appease the planter elites and possibly forestall the anticipated explosions, the British government agreed on an intermediary period before the full implementation of emancipation – the "apprenticeship" period. It was a part of the compensation to planters for the loss of labour, the cost of which fell on the shoulders of African workers.
However, it was presented as a period of preparation for freedom in which the Africans would learn to earn a living and to manage their own affairs.
The policy was a two-pronged effort to “civilise” the African population into “acceptable” behaviours and habits through apprenticeship – which turned out to be a disaster – with a provision for education.
The planter-dominated administration of Tobago could only conceive of a role for the freed African population as estate workers who were expected to remain tied to the estates and accept the terms offered by planters, by force if necessary.
Providing services for the population was considered neither as important nor essential; therefore the Tobago Assembly envisaged no policy for education.
However, the imperial authorities were moved to provide some basic services. The first provision for public education in the colonies came from the Negro Education Grant, provided by the British Government from 1835 to 1845. The aim of the policy behind this grant was to prepare the Africans for freedom by expanding missionary facilities for religious and moral education, to be applicable during apprenticeship, with emphasis on maintaining “public tranquillity” and developing virtues consequent to emancipation.
With funding from the grant, the churches in Tobago – Anglican, Methodist and Moravian – established all the schools on the island. By 1859 there were 17 schools: eight Anglican, four Moravian and five Methodist.
The churches welcomed this initiative because it offered them opportunities for spreading the Word while increasing the size of their congregations. They encouraged marriages, baptisms and school and church attendance, for they needed their followers to be able to read the Bible, and it was necessary to train locals to assist in their pastoral efforts.
Church membership was a requirement for access to the facilities the churches offered, which provided alternatives to estate labour which the freed Africans valued. Tobago became the turf for competition among the denominations for the dues, fees and souls of the population during the second half of the 19th century.
The education policy faced severe problems. It was never a priority of the pro-planter administration, imperial funding was inadequate and parent
