African Entrepreneurship Record-Chapter 735 - 39 Staff Retraining

The East African military industry mainly focuses on heavy industry. Light industry has a short production cycle, requires less investment, yields quick results, and can rapidly recover funds and achieve profitability.

In contrast, these are the drawbacks of heavy industry. Of course, in the 19th century, heavy industry was in its early stages of development, so these issues were not yet apparent. In countries like Britain, France, and Germany, the profits from heavy industry were quite considerable. Under normal circumstances, the risks were minimal, so investing in heavy industry was profitable and relatively stable.

Moreover, for national competition, there were advantages in the 19th century. Military strength was the foundational guarantee for a nation's development; otherwise, if one were to produce in peace, the next day, the great powers would bring their "ironclad ships and sharp cannons" to open national doors forcefully and destroy domestic industries, leaving no room for development.

"Our country's military industry is one of the few industrial sectors capable of self-research and design. The nation invests limited talent in the development of military industries, while civilian industries with this capital are limited to a few sectors such as railways, steel, electricity, and automobiles. According to the East African talent development cycle, we will need at least until after 1895 to reach the standards of European and American countries."

This is the current situation of talent reserves in East Africa. East African talent mainly relies on the early Heixinggen schools' training, which are various schools established by the Heixinggen royal family in Europe, supplemented by East Africans studying and working in Europe. The training cycle for domestic talent is lengthy, spanning decades.

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As of 1888, East Africa still maintained over seven hundred language schools, employing more than eight thousand educators.

"The issue of reeducating these teachers is essential. We plan to close down most, retaining only a little over a hundred to meet most needs, with a focus on central and western regions and coastal areas. Language schools in many eastern regions can be closed."

Language schools are a key project in East Africa's assimilation work, reaching nearly ten thousand at their peak in the seventies, primarily established to popularize the German language.

The teaching conditions varied greatly, some even lacking fixed teaching locations, with some directly integrated into the East African compulsory education system.

As special schools that have existed in East Africa for over twenty years, language schools have made significant contributions to East Africa, the most important being ensuring the dominance of the German language in East Africa. Currently, the German-speaking population in East Africa can ensure the autonomous assimilation of other language immigrants without the need for policy enforcement.

This is akin to the Slavic people immigrating to Germany, where many Slavs from Poland and other places move to major German cities like Berlin, and if they do not take the initiative to learn German, they would find it difficult to get by.

"Closing hundreds of language schools at one go will leave many teachers facing employment issues. Based on these teachers' cultural levels, we believe the government should guide them to further deepen their studies. Since they have been engaged in education work for years, their learning ability is relatively strong, and they can achieve further education in our domestic higher education institutions or in European German regions."

Because East Africa sought to quickly popularize German, the selection of language teachers was very limited, mainly consisting of young people, many of whom had only experienced very basic compulsory education or lower-level education established by the Heixinggen royal family in Europe.

Therefore, in reality, the language teachers are not that old, and their years of teaching work have endowed them with a strong aptitude for German, especially in writing, alongside access to more learning channels, so their cultural levels are not considered low.

However, having focused solely on German education over the years, their cultural attainment is quite narrow, mainly concentrated in the language and literature fields, giving a sense of being overqualified for some roles yet underqualified for others.

After all, now that German is widespread in East Africa, the value of German education has diminished, and they lack experience in other work fields.

Ernst: "Although language teachers are somewhat below true teachers, their foundation is still sound. Many of them were initially studying in Germany and interrupted their studies to disseminate German in East Africa. Therefore, based on their interests, let them first receive short-term training at domestic higher institutions, then study abroad and, in the future, re-employ in other East African fields. This can also effectively supplement East Africa's pool of highly educated talents."

The normal talent development cycle in the East African education system is quite long, with compulsory education alone taking up to ten years, placing these teachers who have taught in East Africa for many years in an awkward position.

Forcing them to re-engage in long-term study would be difficult; after all, compared to ordinary students, they are too old, so they can only be temporarily placed in East African educational institutions for training and then sent to study abroad.

Though somewhat rushed, their foundation is much better than that of students from Japan and the Far East Empire. Firstly, there is no language barrier; secondly, their teaching experience in East Africa has given them a good grounding in literature, and the older they are, the more they cherish the hard-won opportunities. East Africa isn't kicking them away but providing them with a chance to continue their studies.

Of course, Ernst couldn't just cast these people aside; one significant task of language schools is carrying out cultural and public opinion propaganda among immigrants.

Thus, these individuals are undoubtedly among the most conscientized groups in East Africa, and many language teachers are orphans, having received early life support and learning opportunities from the Heixinggen royal family.

Initially, according to Ernst's plans, these people were supposed to follow normal German learning channels, but the rapid expansion of East Africa disrupted the rhythm, transforming talents that needed years to nurture into quickly trained talents acquired in a few months.

Re-molding them now is also a way to make up for past regrets, though this requires coordination from the East African government, especially since the annual quota for government-sponsored study abroad is limited. Fortunately, in recent years, a number of higher education institutions have been established in East Africa, providing interim placements to absorb them before contingently sending them abroad.

"The number of students who can study in European regions is ultimately limited. In recent years, numerous private higher education schools have been established by Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. We can negotiate with them, but the results might not be ideal. After all, the educational standards of these schools vary, and the fee structures are not unified, requiring a professional team to evaluate before negotiating placements, which might entail considerable expenditures."

Ernst: "Just go ahead and do it; studying abroad is an important talent development model, and European education inherently requires discernment. Now some capitalists specifically establish 'diploma mills' to enroll students from underdeveloped regions. If we in East Africa do not pay attention, we might also fall for them!"

While saying this, Ernst showed no hint of guilt. In fact, the one who opened the floodgates for 'diploma mills' in the German regions of Europe was none other than Ernst himself.

It can be said he started this detrimental trend, dragging down the educational climate of the entire German region in the process. Originally devised to earn tuition fees from countries like Japan, the idea turned out to be extremely successful.

These individuals mainly suffered due to their unfamiliarity with Europe, compounded by the Heixinggen Consortium's proactive advertisements in the Far East region, which made avoiding being duped difficult.

In fact, even the East African government has been taken in, though fortunately, staff from the Heixinggen Consortium reported the situation to Ernst, avoiding a complete embarrassment.