French West Africa centralized primary schooling under one federal curriculum in 1914

Evidence

The ground was therefore well prepared when Hardy arrived in the federation. Nevertheless, it is true that the most comprehensive educational changes by Ponty occurred on Hardy’s watch and bear the unmistakable stamp of a lycee professor. Foremost among these changes was Dakar’s publication in 1914 of a single plan d’etudes for primary education throughout the West African federation. Most of this plan was devoted to village and regional schools, which Ponty and Hardy obviously felt should constitute the real heart of the French educational effort in West Africa. — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 460

Categorization

• DEFINE: Plan d’etudes and adapted education are key administrative concepts for understanding how republicanism was imposed through schooling.