The Colonial School Tradition in Tranquebar

Keld Grinder-Hansen, Ph.d, Director of The Danish School Museum

The Project is financed by the Bikuben Foundation and is part of the Galathea3 expedition.

A remarkable concentration of educational institutions exists in present-day Tranquebar. This reflects a strong educational tradition in the area, which can be traced directly to the arrival of the Danish Lutheran Halle-Mission in 1706. Some decades later a rival Lutheran mission – the Moravian Brethren – arrived at Tranquebar, where they established a mission station outside the town perimeter. Contrary to their success in other Danish colonies (eg. Greenland and the Danish West Indies) the Moravian Brethen did not succeed in getting a firm grip of the Lutheran mission in Tranquebar, and had to see themselves beaten by the Danish-Halle Mission.

The descendants of the Danish-Halle Mission – the Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Church (TELC) still holds a strong position in the educational system of modern Tranquebar and is responsible for primary and secondary schools, along with a teacher training college in the town.

The aim of this project is to examine this educational tradition historically and try to understand the reasons for the extraordinary and prolonged educational success of the Lutheran Mission in the Tranquebar area. This development will be viewed in a comparative perspective to the educational development in other Danish colonies (The Danish West Indies, Island, Greenland and the Faroe Islands.) as well as the general developement in European colonial history. Thus contributing to the understanding of the role of education in the former Danish Colonies and – in a broader perspective - European colonies as such.

The project will result in a substantial academic article published in English.