École normal William Ponty

Building of the former École William Ponty on Gorée (2011)

The École normal William Ponty was a teacher training institute for boys from French West Africa . It existed from 1903 to 1965 and was considered the cadre forge for the indigenous inhabitants of French West Africa.

history

Subjects per school week (1924)

	1 year	2 years	3rd year
moral	1 H.	1 H.	1 H.
French language	11 hours	11 hours	10 hours
mathematics	7.5 hours	7.5 hours	6 hours
Physics and chemistry	-	3 hours.	-
Animal and plant science	2 hours.	-	1 H.
hygiene	-	-	1 H.
Agriculture	-	-	1 H.
history	2 hours.	2 hours.	1 H.
geography	2 hours.	2 hours.	1 H.
To draw	2 hours.	2 hours.	2 hours.
Music and singing	1 H.	1 H.	1 H.
Works	1.5 hours	1.5 hours	1 H.
Physical education	5 hours	5 hours	5 hours
Typing	-	-	2 hours.
pedagogy	-	-	3 hours.
total	35 hours	36 hours	36 hours

The teacher training institute of the French colonial administration was founded on November 24, 1903 in Saint-Louis ( Senegal ), the former capital of French West Africa. It was designed to train African teachers and low-ranking administrators for colonial service. The Pontins' schooling lasted three years.

The Governor General of French West Africa William Ponty had the teacher training college relocated to the island of Gorée off the capital Dakar in 1913 . After Ponty's death in 1915, the school was named after him in 1916. In 1938 she moved to her last location in Sébikotane , a suburb of Dakar on the mainland.

For girls, the École normal de Rufisque was founded in 1938 not far from Sébikotane, a counterpart to the École normal William Ponty. Since then, the graduation parties have been celebrated by the Pontins together with the Rufisquoises from the girls' school.

meaning

Numerous members of the political and cultural elite in the independent successor states of French West Africa graduated from the school. The Achimota School and Makerere College had a similar meaning to the French colonies as the École normal William Ponty had for the British colonial empire in Africa .

The pupils were assimilated to the French language and culture and, in particular , made familiar with the theater of the French classical period . From the 1930s she was encouraged by the school director at the time, Charles Béart, among others, to look into the culture of their regions of origin. At the intensely cultivated school theater of the École normal William Ponty, this resulted in European-African hybrid forms, which left clear traces in the French-language African literature of the 20th century and in African theater groups such as the Amicale de Niamey .

The collection of the École normal William Ponty of handwritten student works on African topics has been part of the world document heritage since 2015 .

Well-known former students

• Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi (* 1938), Mauritanian politician, President
• Justin Ahomadegbé-Tomêtin (1917–2002), local politician, President
• Louis Lansana Béavogui (1923–1984), Guinean politician, Prime Minister
• Nazi Boni (1909–1969), Upper Voltaic writer and politician
• Germain Coffi Gadeau (≈1913–2000), Ivorian playwright
• Georges Condat (1924–2012), Franco-Nigerien politician and diplomat
• Joseph Conombo (1917–2008), Upper Volta politician, Prime Minister
• Daniel Ouezzin Coulibaly (1909–1958), Ivorian-Upper Voltaic politician
• Barcourgné Courmo (1916–1993), Nigerien politician
• Bernard Binlin Dadié (1916–2019), Ivorian writer
• Mahamane Dan Dobi (1923–1981), Nigerien politician and playwright
• Mamadou Dia (1910–2009), Senegalese politician, Prime Minister
• Saïfoulaye Diallo (1923–1981), Guinean politician
• Hamani Diori (1916–1989), Nigerien politician, President
• Amadou Gaoh (1925–2015), Nigerien politician
• Boubou Hama (1906–1982), Nigerien politician and intellectual
• Félix Houphouët-Boigny (1905–1993), Ivorian politician, President
• Philippe Zinda Kaboré (1920–1947), Upper Volta politician
• Noma Kaka (1920–1993), Nigerien politician
• Léopold Kaziendé (1910–1999), Nigerien politician of Burkinabe origin
• Fodéba Keïta (1921–1969), Guinean writer, composer and politician
• Modibo Keïta (1915–1977), Malian politician, president
• Harou Kouka (1922–2008), Nigerien politician
• Tiemoko Garan Kouyaté (1902–1944), Malian activist
• Souleymane Ly (1919–1994), Nigerien educator and politician
• Coutoucou Hubert Maga (1916–2000), local politician, President
• Abdou Moumouni (1929–1991), Nigerien physicist
• Idé Oumarou (1937–2002), Nigerien politician, diplomat and writer
• Abdou Sidikou (1927–1973), Nigerien politician and diplomat
• Fily Dabo Sissoko (1900–1964), Malian writer and politician
• Diallo Telli (1925–1977), Guinean politician and diplomat
• Abdoulaye Wade (* 1926), Senegalese politician, President
• Djibo Yacouba (1923–1968), Nigerien politician and diplomat
• Nabi Youla (1918–2014), Guinean politician and diplomat
• Émile Derlin Henri Zinsou (1918–2016), local politician, President
• Ikhia Zodi (1919–1996), Nigerien politician

literature

• Ferdinand de Jong, Brian Quinn: Ruines d'utopies. L'École William Ponty et l'Université du Futur Africain . In: Guillaume Lachenal (ed.): Politiques de la nostalgie . Karthala, Paris 2014, ISBN 978-2-8111-1305-6 , pp. 71-93 .
• Jean-Hervé Jézéquel: Les "mangeurs de craies". Sociohistoire d'une catégorie lettrée à l'époque coloniale. Les instituteurs diplômés de l'école normal William-Ponty (c. 1900 - c. 1960) . Dissertation. EHESS, Paris 2002.
• Peggy Roark Sabatier: Educating a colonial elite. The William Ponty School and its graduates . Dissertation. University of Chicago, Chicago 1977.
• Peggy Sabatier: Did Africans really learn to be French? The Francophone elite of the ecole William Ponty . In: GW Johnson (Ed.): Double impact. France and Africa in the age of imperialism (=  Contributions in comparative colonial studies . No. 16 ). Greenwood Press, Westport, Connecticut 1985, ISBN 0-313-23386-1 , pp. 179-187 .

Web links

Commons : École normal William Ponty  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Pascale Barthélémy: Instruction ou éducation? La formation des Africaines à l'École normal d'institutrices de l'AOF de 1938 à 1958 . In: Cahiers d'Études africaines . No. 169–170 , 2003, pp. 371–388 ( journals.openedition.org [accessed December 26, 2017]).
2. ^ ^{A b} William Ponty School Collection of Papers. UNESCO, accessed December 26, 2017 . 
3. ^ ^{A b c} Wole Soyinka : Theater in Traditional African Cultures: Survival Patterns . In: Michael Huxley, Noel Witts (Ed.): The Twentieth-Century Performance Reader . 2nd Edition. Routledge, London 2002, ISBN 0-415-25286-5 , pp. 382 .
4. ^ Pierre Montagnon: Dictionnaire de la colonization française . Pygmalion, Paris 2010, ISBN 978-2-7564-0265-9 , pp. 450 .
5. ^ William Ponty School Collection of Papers. Nomination form - International Memory of the World Register. (PDF) Institut Fondamental d'Afrique Noire Cheikh Anta Diop, 2014, accessed on December 26, 2017 . 
6. ↑ Don Rubin, Ousmane Diakhaté, Hansel Ndumbe Eyoh (eds.): The World Encyclopedia of Contemporary Theater: Africa . 2nd Edition. Routledge, London / New York 2001, ISBN 0-415-05931-3 , pp. 213 .