The Palestinian Education system in Mandatory Palestine

Abstract

This paper’s objective is to trace the education system in mandatory Palestine, and to show how the educational policy adopted by the government of mandatory Palestine was practiced for three consecutive decades.  The paper also aims at showing how the system was used by the authorities as a tool for social and political control.  The paper will further attempt to point out the difference between mass education versus quality education, and the way in which the curricula and the content of the former have hindered the social and economic progress of the Palestinian Arabs between the years 1917 and 1947.  The British government of mandatory Palestine had adopted different approaches and educational policies among the Arabs themselves, Muslims, Druze, and Christians, and on a larger scale between Arabs and Jews.  Such inconsistent policies have reflected themselves most negatively on the relationships among these communities up to this day.