Image Credit:اسكندرية 1900/FacebookDuring the British occupation of Egypt, to be colonial was to be elite: to receive colonial education was an invitation to study among a community of aristocrats and leaders. Victoria College, a private school in Alexandria, Egypt, was the first of its kind in the country to do so — named after Queen Victoria of England, in tribute to her passing in 1901. According to ‘Victoria College: A History Revealed’ (2005) by Sahar Hamouda, when Lord Cromer, British Consul-General of Egypt, ceremoniously laid Victoria College’s foundation stone on 24 May, 1906, he also laid the foundation for an institution that would become Egypt’s educational epicenter for upper-class families and royalty from across the Middle East, Africa, and Europe. “There were only two alternatives to choose between: to confide one’s children to religious establishments, they being the only existing establishments, or to send the children to Europe at great financial and emotional cost,” stated Baron Jacques de Menasce in his speech during the school’s opening ceremony. Victoria College aimed to usher in an era of education that could separate Egypt’s elite community from the public education system ushered in…
Victoria College: 5 Astounding Alumni From Egypt’s Elite School of the Past
May 9, 2022
