During these years,no effort was made by either the Minis t r y of Colonies in Rome nor the Department of Civil and Political Affairs in Tripoli(l) to implement the educational provisions of the Fundamental Law of June 1919 or even the governatorial degree of September 1922(2),w h i c h authorised the replacement of the Italo-Arab schools by lower-elementary schools^in which
the Arabic language would be the sole medium of instruction. The approval of the 1922 decree only two months after Volpi's ultimatum of 17 July to the Libyan nationalists at Misurata
(3)seems to indicate that the government had hoped to avoid
1) Charge of the schools was basically the responsibility of the Civil and Political Affairs Department.The p o s ition of superintendent appears to have been of a largely nominal nature and entrusted as a general rule to the
acting director of the Italian secondary school in Tripoli, Cav.Mescia,until the appointment of a full-time superin tendent for Tripolitania in the summer of 1924.From the time of Dr.Angelo Piccioli's appointment in 1924 all
subsequent superintendents were appointed by the Mini s t r y of Colonies where Micacchi remained director of the c o l onial schools until the fall of the Italian empire during the Second World War.See,Voti,Pronunciati da Comitati
^ C o n s u l tati Indigeni,April 1 9 1 9 .O p . C i t ^ ; R.Istituto ^ Tecnico ed Regio Scuola Complemeritare >di Tripoli.Anne
uario 1 9 2 7 (Tripoli. 1927) s A ncigro P i c cioli to Governor V o l p i , 20 D e c . 1 9 2 4 (MAI-AS,Fondo Volpi).
2) D.M.14 S e p t . 1 9 2 2 .Ordinamento scolastico per i musulmani della Tripolitania,B.U.C.,606.
3) During these final months of Liberal Italy,two policies began to manifest themselves in Libya:the policy of peace ful accommodation pursued by the Minister of Colonies,
Amendola;and the policy of the new governor of Tripolitania Giuseppe Volpi,who insisted upon the unconditional surr ender of nationalists at Misurata to w h i c h he laid seige on 17 J u l y , 1922.See,The Italian Conquest of Tripolitania
194
any armed confrontation through creating a climate of accommodation in which talks could take place,so ending the political anarchy of the p r o v i n c e .(4)Though never
implemented,however,the decree was not officially replaced until 1928,when the Italo-Arab schools were restored to their former pre-eminence as the principal educational instrument of Italian colonialism in Libya for M o s l e m s . (5)
f. \ :
The main reason for the lack of any serious effort onthe part of the Italians to implement the n e w policies in Tripolitania,undoubtedly lay in the continuing political uncertainty,combined with weak governments in Italy itself.
(6)In such circumstances,political agreement was impossible between the Italians and the independent chiefs of the
Gebel or with the Libyan nationalists at M isurata Port, who still hoped for complete independence from Italian rule,a goal w ith which no Italian administration could concur.The final burst of activity which had produced the decree of September 1922 was no more than the last splutt- erings of a dying flame,briefly fanned back into life by Volpi's arrival as governor on 3 August 1921,and almost
as soon extinguished for an indefinite future.
In effect,it was Micacchi's policy that was adhered
(c o n t i n .)(condensed from the book by R.Rapex:L'Affirmazione della Sovranita Italiana sulla T r i p o l i t a n i a ) in Italian Rule in Tripolitania(B.M.A..Tripoli.1 9 4 7 ) .p.147.
4) I b i d .,p .20.A l s o ,see,Evans-Pritchard,O p .C i t . .p .147. 5) See,R.D.21 Giugno 1928,N . 1698.
6) See,R.Micacchi,L'Ensiqnement aux I n d i q e n e s ,p.510:and Renzo De Felice,Chpt.XIV'Mussolini e Giolittistra riv— oluzione e reazione nasce il f a s c i s m o " ,Mussolini il £ivoluzionario(Torinot1965),p p . 599-662.
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to by the local authorities in the province,as a result of which, the Italo-Arab schools were retained in existence
irrespective of the new orientation,both as a means of retaining the goodwill and loyalty to the government of those Arabs who still continued to support Italian rule, and also as a guarantee that Italian sovereignty would be maintained in the f u t u r e . (7) Thus it was that two policies continued to characterise Italian educational activity after June 1919: the official policy of cultural and linguistic rapprochment and the unofficial policy based upon pacific p e n e t r a t i o n . ( :)
During the resulting stalemate,Micacchi determined to maintain the existing Italo-Arab schools as best he could in the uncertain circumstances ,while planning their
eventual r e v i v a l ,through an improvement of the Italian teaching-personnel allocated to the existing schools,(8)
7) Micacchi informed the Governor of Tripolitania in July 1919 that his"observations were inspired not by a vain love of criticism,but from the desire to make our schools efficient instruments of pacific penetration in the colony'* .O p . C i t . .p.2.
8) See,R.D.4 gennaio 1920,N.68,che stabilisce il ruolo organico degli insegnanti elementari della Tripolitania e della C irenaica,B.U.C.,69.
9) In practice,the seven government schools provided the only form of elementary education outside the Kuttabs of which there were six in Tripoli and an unknown
quantity elsewhere.In 1919,the school population of the Italo-Arab sector amounted to 882 and 702 for the Kuttabs in an area comprising nearly 1 . 8 million square kilometres for the country as a whole,and a population of 570,000 inhabitants(aprox.),the majority of whom lived in Tripoli and its immediate suburbs,or along the fertile coastal- strip.See,Micacchi to the Governor of T r i p o l i t a n i a , p.66 ; and Malvezzi De Medici /'Native Education in the Italian Colonies".Educational Y e a r b o o k C1931),pp.647-677.
Both government policy,however,and the political and military situation,which confined Italian rule to the
city of Tripoli and the outlying garrisons at Horns,Azizia and the Western coastal-area,prevented for the immediate future any expansion of the Italo-Arab schools,despite the urgent need for many more elementary schools for Arabs both
in the areas under Italian control,and in those areas where Italian writ did not yet run.(9)In examining the seven
surviving Italo-Arab schools of Tripolitania,which in effect offered the only elementary education available to Arabs in the region,outside the K u t t a b s (10) and the Italian national schools(1 1 ) ,it is important to avoid
10) Micacchi recounts that 25 Kuttabs were opened at the beginning of 1919 in Tripolitania,most of which were soon closed down because of the shortage of teachers. Even so,the numbers attending these schools,which were
for the most part attached to the local mosques,had risen from 670 in the previous year to 815 in 1919.
Although he was not opposed to the Kuttabs in principle, recognising them as the natural product of Islamic
civilisation,Micacchi described them as being in a "full state of decadence".By this he was referring
to their being "situated in small airless rooms,without adequate lighting,except for what light is permitted to enter through the small doorway.In such conditions, the pupils squat on the bare,flattened ground from where they copy down on a small slate,the lesson of
the day,which is imparted by the teacher or f i g h i " . See,Micacchi Report of J u l y , 1919,p . 92.
11) Official statistics for the school-year 1921-22 indicate that in Tripolitania alone,1525 Moslem pupils were
enrolled in the following types of existing schools* Se condary( 3 ) ;elementary(31)
;
in f a n t ( n i l );Italo-Arab(6 6 8);Catholic scho o l s (25){Jewish schools(Talmudic:
nil){Koranic(798).F .C o n t i n i .O p .C i t .(Istituti Iscolastici. Della Tripol itania, Anno Scolastico 1921-1922). --- 12) See,Micacchi Report of J u l y , 1919,pp.64 & 69-71."Only in
the city of Tripoli and only in the school-year 1921-22", reported Piccioli in November 1922*,*was the conspicuous sum of 2.988.970 Lira spent on the construction of new s c h o o I s " T h i s V h e added’/was spent as follows *L. 1.554.400 Secondary schools(Italian) {trachoma schools,L. 554.600,* mixed elementary school at Daha r a , L . 3 1 9 .700{ G irls• p r o f essional school,L.560.270.Outside Tripoli there were only three scholastic centres(Zuara,Suk el-Giuma and Horns), though others existed in areas not under Italian control having been set up before 19167See,Piccioli Report of Nov. 1922(Edilizia Scolastica),p.78.
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easy conclusions,as each school was different,despite the similarity of the curriculum.Moreover,the success or failure of these schools as educational institutions was determined by a variety of factors,such as the teaching p e r s o n n e l ,buildings and general facilities,the school intake,and the extent to which they received support from the indigenous community and
its leaders.A further vital factor in the survival and future development of a particular school was the attitude to the education of Moslems of the military resident of the district in which the school was situated.(1 2)
Undoubtedly,the best of these seven schools was at Sukh el-Giuma,in the residence of the Nuahi el Arbaa,a few kilometers from Tripoli itself,which had been opened in a blaze of publicity shortly before Micacchi*s arrival in Libya in 1919,and was intended not only to demonstrate that Italy "cared for her subjects” bu+: also to serve
as the ideal model of the Italo-Arab school of the f u t ure.(13) The success of the school,which in its second year of
existence had alre°ady enrolled 280 pupils( 14) ,was attributed by Micacchi to the initiative of the local commandant,
M a jor D'Alonzo, the support of the mayor of the municipality, the local cadi and notables,the purpose-built accommodation and the efforts of the t e a c h e r s .(15)In the latter respect, Micacchi singled out for particular recommendation the efforts of the director of the s c h o o l ,Andrea Festa,who
13) See,Micacchi Report of J u l y , 1919,p p . 64 and 69-71.
14) Ibid.,p.70. 15) Ibid.,p.69.
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was later to become a well-known colonial educator and the author of several notable publications in the field of colonial education(1 6 ) .He also singled out for praise, Festa's assis t a n t ,Luigi Ramone.Both men had apparently found themselves in Libya as a result of military service and,though lacking in professional qualifications,had been singled out for the work by Major D'Alonzo,a man, according to Micacchi,who embodied all the ideals of Italy's civilising m i s s i o n . ( 1 7 )The Director of Schools was equally impressed w i t h the w o r k of the two Arab teachers employed at the school,the well-known Sheilkh Mohamed Kimail el Hammali,who had formerly taught in the Ottoman schools and would later become perhaps the best- known Arab teacher and educational writer in Libya under Italian rule:and,also, Sheikh Mohamed el Gimmi.Both men were responsible for the teaching of Arabic and the Koran.
(18)Undoubtedly,this school represented for Micacchi the best example of fruitful collaboration between Arabs and Italians in Libya at thgts time and could serve as a model for the schools of the future.(19)
The remaining Italo-Arab schools,however,were less well received b y the local Arab population and in terms of their administration and general facilities were well below the standards set at Sugh el Giuma,though it is not unlikely that Micacchi emphasised the good points of the latter,as a part of his campaign to preserve the Italo- Arab school as the pincipal means of Moslem instruction
in the colony.In Tripoli itself,the situation remained
16) I b i d .,p.70. 17) I b i d . -