The regional schools aimed to create an elite loyal to and controlled by France

Evidence

If village schools were for the masses, regional schools were conceived to form a new elite: “quality rather than quantity.” They should train competent auxiliaries and prepare students for postprimary commercial, professional, or normal courses. Sons of chiefs who might be called upon to succeed their fathers in the administration were to attend these schools, along with the brightest graduates of village schools. Here, French discipline was to be merciless, and all mauvaises tetes-aristocratic or not-would be expelled. Thus was the regional school yoked to Panty’s policy of “dominating chiefs morally.” — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 463