Yüksek Komiser Lord Herbert Charles Onslow Plumer Döneminde Filistin Eğitim Bölümünün Faaliyetleri (1925-1928)
Authors: Deveci Can 
Published: September 2023

During the First World War, Britain occupied Bi'Rüssebi on 31 October 1917, Jaffa on 16 November 1917, and Jerusalem on 9 December 1917. Thus, Palestine came under British military administration under the name of "Occupied Enemy Territories" . After the war, Palestine was given to the British mandate with the decisions of the San Remo Conference held on 24-26 April 1920. Accordingly, Britain has legally committed to govern Palestine on behalf of the League of Nations. Subsequently, the British civil administration began with Sir Herbert Samuel's appointment as High Commissioner for Palestine on 1 July 1920. With the end of the military administration, the center of the civil administration, which was named the "Palestinian Government", became Jerusalem. After Samuel, Lord Herbert Charles Onslow Plumer was appointed to the same post on May 21, 1925. The British civil administration has established many administrative departments in Jerusalem in the fields of economy, education, foundation administrations, agriculture, public works, domestic and foreign trade, population, and immigration. The education department, which is among these, is one of the issues that directly concern society. It was decided that Muslim Arabs should attend public schools operating under the supervision of The Department of Education of the Palestinian Government. The Christian population, on the other hand, was educated in schools supported by the funds of Western missionaries. Jews who immigrated to Palestine were educated in schools established by the World Zionist Organization with the permission of the High Commissioners. While the language of instruction in the schools opened by the High Commissioner is Arabic and English,  Hebrew education was given in the schools opened by the Jews. By 1928, the Department of Education had launched 315 public schools in cities and villages, which included different classes attended by Muslim Arabs. In the same period, private schools, 255 of which belonged to Jews and 183 of which belonged to Christians, were also operating. In the 1927-1928 academic year, the number of students enrolled in public schools increased to 10,586, and in schools controlled by the Zionist organization, this number increased to 6,574.  While The Palestinian Government's Education Department allocated a budget of £106,641 in 1921, under Plumer, this figure increased to £138,000 in 1928. Apart from these, it has been determined that the financing of these schools, such as teacher salaries and building expenses, is met by the high commissioner and donations from different countries. It has been seen that the financing of especially Christian and Jewish schools comes from missionary institutions and wealthy families. In addition, the fact that the language of education (Arabic-Hebrew) and the curriculum are separate in these schools has differentiated the nation-building process, and social, political, and economic development of societies. For example, people who received education between 1925-28 met the bureaucrat needs of the Jewish State, which was planned to be established. As a result, this has been a factor that accelerated the process of statehood. For this reason, it is essential to examine the role of England in the field of education in Palestine. In this paper, the educational activities of the British Mandate Administration between 1925-28 were examined.  The subject has been analyzed by using the reports of High Commissioner Lord Herbert Charles Onslow Plumer, the annual management reports submitted by England to the League of Nations, the newspapers of the period in which the decrees were published, and copyrighted works.