The British Colonial Education 'Lending' Policy in Cyprus (1878-1960): An intriguing example of an elusive 'adapted education' policy

Abstract

The case of the British colonial education 'lending' policy in Cyprus is very interesting, firstly, because Cyprus possessed cultural characteristics very different from those of almost all the other British colonies (African and Asian) and, secondly, because the colonial policy influenced to a great extent the post-colonial educational structures and practices in the island. This article will show that the British colonial education policy applied in Cyprus had the two main features of the colonial policy applied in almost all the other British colonies, namely, (a) it was an 'adapted education' policy and (b) it was very much dependent on the will of the governed people. There were, however, two essential differences: (a) the 'adapted education' policy was very elusive and took diverse forms, and (b) politics played a much more important role in Cyprus than in the other colonies in the formulation of this policy, both positively and negatively. The result was that the 'adapted education' policy explicitly applied during the first fifty years was later reversed and became an open and fervent policy of cultural and educational lending. The contention of the author is that this last policy was a form of implicit 'adapted education' policy .

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