School for Hindustani Children on the Mariënburg Sugar Plantation, Théodore van Lelyveld, 1895 - 1898
gelatin silver print, h 118mm × w 159mm More details
The Mariënburg Plantation is the first to have a school for the children of Hindustani indentured labourers. The Hindustani teacher Noor Mohammed teaches in Hindi and Urdu. Not all parents are equally enthusiastic. They believe that the children also had to earn money and that their stay would be temporary. There is resistance as well from Christian quarters, and the special schools close their doors between 1899 and 1907.
