L'apartheid educativo nell'Eritrea italiana. Quali scuole per i meticci?

The educational system was double in Eritrea throughout the Italian colonial period: schools for Italians and schools for natives. The presence of Italian Eritreans cracked the separatist backbone of colonial body. In fact, half-castes created ambiguity because they were neither all Italian nor all African. What schools could Italian Eritreans attend? Those for Italians? Those for natives? Until 1939, the few half-castes acknowledged by the Italian father had the right to go to schools for Italians. Moreover, catholic missionaries arranged boarding schools specifically designed to provide Italian Eritreans with an Italian education. Those residential educational establishments were also open to the unacknowledged half-castes. During the second half of the 1930s, the political strategy towards Italian Eritreans degenerated into segregation. That change occurred under pressure from fascist biological racism: half-castes were an expression of biological decline because they were impure of blood. They therefore could not be deemed as Italian: they were African. Consequently, the law no. 822 of 1940 denied Italian Eritreans access to schools for Italians and banned missionary catholic schools for half-castes. Mixed race people were allowed to attend only schools for natives.