ITALIAN SCHOOLS IN ASMARA
The century from the 1880s -when was created the Italian colony of Eritrea and the first Italians moved to live there- until the 1980s -when started the war against Ethiopia for Eritrea's independence and the last Italian families went away- has seen the creation and development of the Italian schools in Asmara. Its best period coincided with the existence of the "Colonia primogenita", as was called Italian Eritrea in the 60 years of its existence (from 1881 to 1941).
The first schools were those of the catholic missionaries, but in 1902 were officially created by the Italian government the first two elementary schools in Italian Eritrea, with two teachers from Italy: the first and main in Asmara and the second in Cheren (read http://www.scuoleasmara.it/scuola/scuola-coloniale.html ). During colonial times most of the students were Italians, but after WW2 the number of Eritrean students has increased: in 1956 they were 17% of the students (while the Italians were 83%), while in 2015 they were nearly all.
The highest-level institution was the Italian Lyceum "Ferdinando Martini" in Eritrea's capital, that was founded in 1926 and in 1935 was named "Liceo Scientifico" (while in 1937 the name was changed to "Liceo Classico") with nearly all the students coming from the Italian community of Asmara: it was returned to be a scientific Lyceum only in 1956, when nearly half of the students were Eritreans. Actually (2014) there are 330 students: 85% are Eritreans and 13% are from other countries, while just a few are italians.
Historian Giulia Barrera wrote that in 1940 there were in Eritrea 75,000 Italian civilians (while the total of Italians reached 100,000 persons when added the military men): 59,000 were male and 16,000 female. Nearly 20,000 children were born from them during colonial times, so the total attendance in those decades to the Italian schools was probably around 30,000 because we have to add the numerous descendants from relationships between Italian soldiers and Eritrean native girls. However the "mixed race" Italo-eritreans went in large numbers even to the schools -reserved by Fascism's racial segregation in the late 1930s- for the native Eritreans.
Indeed, according to Matteo Pretelli (in his "Education in the Italian colonies during the interwar period" of the University of Trieste) in the very first years of Italian rule in Eritrea education was not a priority. The first Italians in the area were soldiers barely interested in educating the indigenous population, beyond having "Askaris" – local troops enrolled in the Italian forces – taught the Italian language (all native battalions had their own educational courses for Askaris and their sons). The Italian colonies in East Africa had limited numbers of settlers to begin with, and, according to observers at the time, it was very difficult to recruit teachers from Italy as they rarely welcomed the move to a tropical climate.
Consequently, Italian Catholic priests -since father Stella and his 1867 "Colonia italo-africana di Sciotel" (read Colonia Sciotel, the first Italian "colony" of 1867-1869 in the Cheren area
)- usually played a leading role in the Italian colonial development and the related educational system. They often maintained good relationships with the colonial authorities, which delegated most of the educational work to them. Even before Fascism, missionaries in Italy’s African possessions were in many instances aligned with the government. In 1923, the new Fascist administration officially consigned all education in Eritrea to the Congregation of Santa Anna. Even French and Swedish missionaries retained a significant role until they were sent away during the invasion of Ethiopia in 1935.
Eritrea's Governor Marquis Giuseppe Salvago Raggi (1907–1915) believed that the purpose of education was to train a local elite for posts in the colonial administration. A school for the children of Muslim leaders and notables was therefore established in Keren in 1911 to train students for employment in the telegraph and mail services. In 1921, a "Regio Decreto" established an educational system for the Eritrean native population which consisted of primary schools, schools teaching craft skills, and a type of technical secondary school in Asmara.
Catholic school in 1920s Asmara, where nearly all students were Italians
Consequently, most government and state-recognised schools focused on farming and skilled manual work, some other schools focused to train a small number of interpreters, artisans and accountants and a few schools to train people for administrative posts. However Pretelli pinpointed that it was sometimes hard to convince African students to attend classes regularly, as they usually left as soon as they had learnt the few Italian words that allowed them to be employed as basic interpreters or maids.
After the 1923 "Riforma Gentile" in Asmara were created 3 high schools: the "Liceo Martini", the "Istituto Tecnico Bottego", and in the late 1930s the "Istituto Magistrale".
On the eve of the war on Ethiopia in 1935, native schools in Eritrea enrolled 3194 students including 59 of mixed race, while there were 196 mixed race children in schools for Italians. At that point, almost all the Italian and Eritrean students were members of Fascist youth organizations (mainly the "Gioventu italiana del Littorio").
The fascist Italian regime also banned high educational opportunity for Eritrean citizens, and access to education was limited only up to Grade 5 in order to train some translators, writers and servants. This move mainly emanated from a threat that educated Eritreans would arouse the general public to oppose the Italian colonial rule. The height of this kind of segregation in education was reached after enactment of the 1937 race legislation ("Leggi razziali"), following Mussolini's alliance with Hitler.
In Eritrea in 1939 there were 152 teachers and 86 instructor priests (all of them Italians), with 21 Eritrean assistants: the students were 2254 Italians (1793 in the capital Asmara) and 4177 native Eritreans. However in the school year 1934–1935, in Asmara for Italians there was one "Scuola Media" (enrolling 91 students) and seven elementary schools (with 1010 students) while only six elementary schools for Eritreans (with 1985 students). In all Eritrea there were 3 high schools and 17 elementary schools for Italians, while there were 30 elementary schools for Eritreans (who could additionally do a "Corso biennale di perfezionamento", a two years specialy-improvement course)
In 1940 a group of Italian doctors under the leadership of Dr. Vincenzo Di Meglio promoted the creation of universitary studies in Asmara and in 1941 they created the "Scuola di Medicina" (using a section of the Liceo Martini), linked to the Asmara Hospital (then named "Regina Elena"). It was the first university institution of Eritrea and aimed at the preparation of students for the Faculty of Medicine in the University of Rome. In 1945 was created even the "Corso Universitario di Giurisprudenza" (Law studies) in the Asmara building of the "Missione Cattolica", with professors from Italian universities. Read: Eritrea tascabile 1954
With WW2 and the end of the Italian colonial rule, the educational system started to change in Eritrea, and the Italian schools began to have more and more Eritrean students, while the Italian students diminished with the disappearance of the Italian community in Eritrea. Indeed -from the top in 1941 of nearly 120,000 Italians (including those escaped from Ethiopia)- in 1953 there still were 17,000 Italians in Eritrea, while after only 20 years in 1973 they were reduced to nearly 1,000 (and in 1983 they practically disappeared, remaining only the "mixed-race" Italo-eritreans -read "The Madamato and the Italo-eritreans: Italian Colonialism in Eritrea and Gender Legacies"-
and a few dozen old colonists). However until 1947 under British rule the only language used in all the Eritrean schools was the Italian language (with the exception of the few religious schools for Muslims).