African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 990 Knocking on bones and sucking out marrow
Although Cowell and his team were recognized by the top management of Tomsk State Polytechnic University for their academic level, the recruitment work was still not going smoothly, and three days passed in a flash.

Anka: "Mr. Cowell, Tomsk is just a city in the Far East, but there is no doubt that those who can enroll in Tomsk are undoubtedly elites. Russia does not have universal compulsory education, and their government has withdrawn from relevant policies before, almost cutting off the upward path for the lower class people."

"I also learned about this situation during my communication with my colleagues. The literacy rate in Tsarist Russia was only 20%, and there were a lot of tricks involved. Take most of Russia's primary education for example, less than 5% of them were five-year primary schools, and most were only three-year schools. The quality of the education content is probably not even comparable to that of East Africa."

It goes without saying how exaggerated the figure of 20 percent is. According to the population of Tsarist Russia, at least 20 million people had received education. If this were true, Tsarist Russia would not have been surpassed by East Africa in many fields.

"Before the Tsarist Russia, 50 percent of schools did not have their own educational facilities, but rented houses or used places provided by religious organizations to carry out educational work. Theology was an essential subject in Tsarist Russian schools, which also squeezed out a lot of educational resources."

No country can escape the issue of religion, and this is also true in the field of education. The same is true in East Africa as well. However, theological education in East Africa is only available in universities, and only a small number of students are admitted. Students are also required to obey state arrangements and accept state assessments. Compared with the current Russia, East Africa is a completely secular country.

"Moreover, the educational situation in some parts of Europe has raised the overall educational level in Russia, which means that the Far East is more insignificant in the relevant data."

Cowell nodded and said: "We were mentally prepared before coming to Russia. I am not surprised by this result at all."

Anka: "But just as we thought, Russia's secondary and university education is not inferior to European schools at all. Take Tomsk's local secondary and university as an example. Those who can enroll are basically the ruling class or wealthy groups in Tomsk or Siberia. We only found seven students from ordinary families at Tomsk University. Among them, only one was born in a real peasant family. The rest are aristocratic gentry who have fallen on hard times, or wealthy families who have fallen on hard times."

According to Soviet standards, the peasant families that Anka mentioned should be rich peasants, or self-employed farmers, and definitely not serfs.

It is unimaginable in East Africa that a university has a single-digit number of educated "lower class" people. Although the education level in East Africa is in a terrible state due to funding issues, many people from the common people also have the opportunity to enter university and they account for the majority of college students in East Africa.

Cowell: "Having said that, we have to admit that after the reform of serfdom, Russia's education has made progress. In the middle of the last century, the number of educated people in Tsarist Russia probably did not reach 1%. Even if 20% is mixed with a lot of water, it is much better than a few decades ago. We also have many immigrants in East Africa from the time of Alexander II, and almost few of them can read."

Anka: "It's better than nothing. Currently, there are only three fresh graduates who have expressed their intention to develop in East Africa. Their level is okay, but they are not considered scarce talents in East Africa."

As mentioned before, Tomsk State Polytechnic University was founded in 1896, and this year happens to be the first year for the graduation of students.

"Many Russian college students don't have to worry about job opportunities. After all, their families will not be greatly affected by the economic crisis. Even among the seven people whose family conditions are not too good mentioned earlier, four of them do not think that it will be more beneficial for them to develop in East Africa, and the remaining three only have ideas but are not sure." Anka said somewhat frustratedly.

Cowell said helplessly: "This is easy to understand. If East Africa were a European or American country, I'm afraid they would have already started packing their bags. East Africa is obviously not that attractive to them. If we hadn't come to Tomsk in person, they probably wouldn't even consider East Africa."

"This is the significance of our work, to help European and American students find jobs in East Africa. Don't be discouraged. If the three people from Tomsk State Polytechnic University have real talents and skills, we can provide them with convenience. Tomsk State Polytechnic University is just a local university. If we estimate it from a pessimistic point of view, it means that we can at least recruit five or six people locally." "Imagine that Tomsk is just a Far Eastern city in Tsarist Russia with an underdeveloped economy. There are many schools in Tsarist Russia that are stronger than Tomsk State Polytechnic University. We can find several in each school, which means at least dozens of them. Add the talents in the industrial field of Tsarist Russia, and that means hundreds of people. From this point of view, this trip is relatively pragmatic."

Cowell's consolation did work. Tomsk was only their first stop in Siberia, and Cowell's team was just a small branch that came to Tsarist Russia to recruit people.

The failure to achieve results in Tomsk does not mean that the Siberian region, or even the developed European regions, cannot do it.

After comforting and motivating themselves, the members of the working group began to recruit people from other schools or factories in Tomsk.

And as Cowell said, the entire Tomsk had good potential. Before the end of 1900, Cowell's team provided convenience for a total of people from Tomsk to travel to East Africa, including students of science, engineering, and medicine, mainly from Tomsk State Polytechnic University and Siberian State Medical University (also in Tomsk).

In addition to the student group, there are quite a few technical talents in Tomsk who have lost their jobs due to the economic crisis, which is also the main gain of Cowell and his team.

After finishing the work in Tomsk, Cowell and his team did not stop. The next stop was Novosibirsk. However, compared with Tomsk, the current academic center of Siberia, the city of Novosibirsk has only been around for a few years and only began to develop because of the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway.

Therefore, the working group stayed here for a very short time. Their next stop was also an important city in Russia, Yekaterinburg.

Before the end of 1990, the East African government recruited less than thirty talents of various types from east of the Ural Mountains in Russia, temporarily draining the available local talents.

This is simply adding insult to injury for Russia's Siberia, which is already backward and educationally underdeveloped. However, even without East African intervention, these people will most likely leave Siberia in the future and seek employment in the western European part of Russia or other European and American countries. Even without East African intervention, some of these people will become one of the main forces to overthrow Russian rule in the future.

The Siberian region and East Africa recruited nearly thirty people. The results in the more developed European part of Russia were naturally better. In 1900 alone, through the East African talent introduction plan, as many as Russians immigrated to East Africa. Most of them were college graduates or technical talents who could not make a living due to unemployment.

East Africa's exploitation of Russia has just begun. During the economic crisis of Tsarist Russia, East Africa's work will continue. That is to say, in the next two years, more highly qualified Russian talents will flow into East Africa. As the saying goes, if you use the hoe well, there is no corner that cannot be dug down.

However, amid the Russian economic crisis, the talent introduction plan in East Africa is just an appetizer, while other European and American countries are the real feast.

There is no doubt that these talents will contribute to the construction of East Africa during the First Five-Year Plan and make corresponding contributions to improving East Africa's industrial system and other fields.

(End of this chapter)