Kartini Schools

Kartini Schools, named for the Javanese women's rights advocate Raden Ajeng Kartini (Lady Kartini), were opened to educate indigenous girls in the Dutch East Indies in the wake of the Dutch Ethical Policy.

Kartini School in Jakarta
Opening of the Kartini School in Buitzenborg (Bogor) May 1915
Kartini School building in Buitenzorg (opened 1918)
Class
Kartini school in Malang

About

The first Kartini School was opened in Batavia in 1907. It was supported by Governor General Abendanon and Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands. Additional Kartini Schools were opened in Malang, Cirebon, Semarang, Bogor (then called Buitzenborg), and Surabaya. The schools served indigenous students who had already received a primary education.[1]

Efforts to create opportunities for upper-class Javanese women struggled against opposition from Conservative Dutch officials and the Javanese regent class (bupatis). The Dutch language boarding schools were staffed by women.[2]

Curriculum

The curriculum included:[3]

  • Continuing Dutch language instruction
  • Javanese language and literature
  • geography and history
  • drawing and aesthetics
  • home economics and gardening
  • arithmetic and simple bookkeeping
  • practical and fine needlework
  • principles of hygiene and first aid
  • principles of education
  • singing and principles of musical theory

See also

References
  1. Introduction, Letters of a Javanese Princess by Kartini (Raden Adjeng)
  2. Women in the Netherlands East Indies. Part 2: The Kartini-schools for Girls: The Archive of the Kartini Fund, 1912-1960, National Archives of the Netherlands, The Hague
  3. Women in the Netherlands East Indies. Part 2: The Kartini-schools for Girls: The Archive of the Kartini Fund, 1912-1960 National Archives of the Netherlands, The Hague

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