< pagina precedente Home L'archivio La Mostra Virtuale Mappa Sito

 

Annual Report 1947 - 1948
Nel 1947-48 tra gli studenti del Comboni College cominciò a manifestarsi una maggiore attenzione per il  dibattito politico che animava il Sudan. Ci furono delle manifestazioni pubbliche a cui anche alcuni alunni del College presero parte; non mancarono poi atti di contestazione al College stesso. La direzione, almeno pubblicamente, sembrò trattare l’intera questione come semplice fenomeno di indisciplina. Un’analisi che mostrava una certa superficialità e che svelava l’impreparazione del corpo insegnante a confrontarsi con il nascente nazionalismo. A bilanciare l'effetto negativo di questi primi atti di contestazione, l'annuario del College mostrava con orgoglio gli ottimi risultati conseguiti a lilvello nazionale dai suoi studenti.

Tratto da: Comboni College Khartum, 1948, pp. 5-6)
The adolescent is, like soft wax, easily mulded and driven into vice, unless we protect him and guide his footsteps. Occasions of evil must be removed from his path, and occasions of good set before him, particularly in his recreations and social intercourse.
During these last twelve months we have had to increase our vigilance, to prevent that our boys should yield to the evil passions and bad spirits that endangered youth; we have had to correct with unusual energy the bad habits and inclinations that showed up in the course of the year; and we have had on some occasions, with much pain in our hearts, to protect the greater mass of our schoolboys by removing from their midst pupils, who, already influenced by a bad environment, would not appreciate the strict rules of a sound education.
We thus hint at the little disturbance we had at the end of September 1947 and to some other little incidents, which do not deserve mention. All such trouble came from pupils who dwelled in boarding-houses or in hired rooms with neither their parents nor any tutor to look after them. We strongly blame the parents who approve of such arrangements, and in future we shall not admit to our school any boy who is not taken charge of by some responsible person.
In spite of the above-mentioned difficulties, which are inevitable in the education of boys, the great mass of pupils behaved very well all through the year and we sincerely thank God for the most successful year which we have just completed.
In May 1947, 41 of our 63 candidates for the Egyptian Primary Certificate Examination were successful, thus giving an average of 66% passes; at the second session of the same examination another 9 pupils gained the Certificate, thus raising the percentage to 80.
In December 1947 at the Oxford School Certificate Examination 13 out of 15 students proved successful and gained both the Oxford School Certificate and the Comboni College Certificate. Ernest Asmar, our head-boy, distinguished himself at this examination, and obtained exemption from the London Matriculation as well as from the Cairo Matriculation. Ali Sahlool, -Gamil Boctor and George Haggar were exempted from the Cairo Matriculatioin.
At the final examination, April 1948, 53% of the school pupils were promoted to higher classes: only 13% were found unsatisfactory, and the rest were given the opportunity to make up for their slight weakness in various subjects and attend the supplementary examination at the end of the holidays.
Just a few days ago, May 23rd 1948, the results of the Egyptian Primary Certificate Examination have shown the Comboni College at the top of the list of all the schools in the Sudan, for the large number of successful pupils. Out of its 52 applicants, 40 have gained the Certificate, and two of them have gained distinction.
^ Inizio pagina