ABSTRACT
What was the situation regarding education in the colonies up to independence? If we define the objectives of education as qualification, socialisation, and personality development, and we bring these goals into a colonial and segregated society like in the Netherlands East Indies in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, we immediately see the tensions this caused among colonial administrators. After the new constitution was introduced in the Netherlands in 1848, the Government Regulation for the Dutch East Indies was subsequently introduced in the Dutch East Indies. Article 128 stated that education was a subject of continuous concern for the governor-general. Education and upbringing of indigenous young people was traditionally part of the work of missionaries in the nineteenth century. Education and Christianisation went hand in hand. The Muslim population had its own education in the Quranic schools, which were widespread and often offered the only form of education.
