How Colonial Plantations Limited Indigenous Education and Labor Opportunities
At the start of the twentieth century, Dutch Queen Wilhelmina introduced an ethical policy, emphasising their obligation to ensure the well-being of the colony’s inhabitants. Following a prolonged period of abstaining from involvement in local activities, the government of the Netherlands Indies began constructing Dutch-language schools throughout the archipelago. The European Primary School (Europeesche Lagere School, ELS) and the Dutch Indigenous School (Hollandsche Indische School, HIS) were established by the Dutch government.
The colonial government set up a somewhat complicated school system separating the Indigenous from the Dutch schools. The primary schools were divided into Dutch and Malay schools. The Dutch schools were further divided into European schools (ELS, Level 1 and 2), Hollandsch Chineesche (HCS), and Holland Inlandsche School (HIS). The Malay or called Inlander schools were considered to be at a lower level compared to the Dutch schools.
The educational system in northern Sumatra was limited and had only been in place around 1910s but the government did mot put an effort to make it more effective. Attendance was not compulsory and only a small number of indigenous or pribumi children attended school.
In 1925, the school attendance rate for European children was about 55%. However, the attendance rate for foreign oriental was just 3.5% and for the pribumi was 13.9%. As a result, the number of pribumi adults in the east coast of Sumatra that have a knowledge of Dutch language was only 4%.
The education of the indigenous people was largely influenced by local politics and the desires of planters. While there was an education system, only a few pribumi continued their education beyond the first few years, as most sought jobs as clerks in cities once they obtained elementary education. The planters and government were hesitant to expand education opportunities to the indigenous because there was a shortage of coolie labour and a fear that they will become politically radical if they received too much education.
Planters in northern Sumatra, who held significant power, tried to restrict education for the indigenous and permitted only selected boys could be promoted for further education. Some plantations have even set up their own schools for the education of coolies’ children to keep them on the estates and improve their skills as plantation workers so they would remain on the estates.
One pioneering company was Senembah which was originally owned by Swiss but later sold to the Deli Company. Dr. C. W. Janssen, the son of P. W. Janssen, co-founder of the Deli Company, directed the Senembah Company from 1889 to 1927. He was known for his philanthropic efforts towards employee and labour welfare.
In 1919, Janssen created an education program for children of the Javanese coolies. The school used Javanese as an instruction language rather than Malay which was used in government schools. Late 1919, Janssen invited Tan Malaka who just graduated from a teacher’s college in the Netherlands to develop an educational system for coolies children Tanjong Morawa. However Tan Malaka only lasted 18 months because of the arrogant white culture and he witnessed the poor treatment of coolies.
Tan Malaka described that the Dutch schoolmaster, Mr. W (possibly K. de Waij), on one occasion:
Standing right beside me, he began to criticize the work being done by my pupils-the hoeing was not deep enough, the wickerwork was not strong enough-in a loud voice like that used by the Tuan Besar.
At the departure meeting with Janssen, Tan Malaka said:
“You’ve seen for yourself the atmosphere on the plantation, particularly toward me as an Indonesian. When you leave Deli shortly, the school for the coolie children will be turned into a school for hoeing. It’s better that I ask permission to leave from you personally.”
Indeed, Walter Foote, the American Consul of Medan, who wrote a report for the US Commissioner of Education in 1927, stated that the plantation schools were practically a way of creating labour.
In the morning, the children worked in the fields and gardens for an hour, followed by a breakfast. They were then taught basic arithmetic and how to read and write in Javanese. They were not taught other languages and were instructed on how to behave toward white masters. The afternoon was dedicated to work in the fields under instructors guidance, and the children received a pay of 5 to 10 cents a day, which was later paid as clothing and necessities. The goal was to produce efficient and docile plantation workers who do not have political ambitions.
This type of plantation school was popular became a model for other plantations and were spreading as a principal type of education for the pribumi in Sumatra.
A. H. Kroes, the head of the Inlander School (H.I.S.) in Perbaoengan, believed in incorporating practical work into education, however he criticised the Senembah schools for just focusing the children to work and not preparing students for their future lives. As the school was taught in Javanese, Kroes argued it was an attempt to restrict the educational and career opportunities of the students, which was designed to profit of the Senembah company.
The attempt to limit education to children of plantation workers has a long-term effect. American anthropologist Ann Stoler in her book “Capitalism and Confrontation in Sumatra’s Plantation Belt, 1870–1979,” analysed the Dutch colonial plantation economy in East Sumatra. Stoler argues that the plantation economy was based on the exploitation of indigenous labour and resources and that it created a system of racial and gender hierarchies that persisted long after the end of colonialism.
