Carolina Nunes Vais
Italian-Jewish educator in Libya
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Carolina Nunes Vais (1856 – 1932) was an Italian, Jewish educator, who was Director of the Italian Girls' School in Tripoli, which was the first educational establishment for young women in Libya.
Carolina Nunes Vais | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1857 Livorno, Italy |
| Died | 1932 (aged 74–75) Tripoli |
| Occupation | School Director |
| Employer(s) | Italian Girls' School, Tripoli |
Biography
Vais was born in 1856 in Livorno.[1] Little is known about her early life, however in 1877, the Jewish community in Tripoli invited an additional teacher from Livorno to emigrate in order to run a school for girls there.[2][3] The previous year, in 1876, the first teacher, Giannetto Paggi, had emigrated and it was he who founded the Italian Boys' School there.[4]
During her fifty-five career as Director of the Italian Girls' School, Vais oversaw a number of changes to the curriculum in the school. From 1895 the curriculum included French, soon after English, History and Geography were adopted.[1] In 1903 there were 241 girls enrolled at the school, mostly from Tripoli's Jewish middle class.[5] In 1911 the school's budge was 12,500 francs - 12.5% of the annual budget for all of Libya's education system; the school had 348 pupils.[1][6]
In addition to her work as Director of the school, Vais was a board member of the Women's Benevolent Society, 'Ezrat Nashim, which was founded in 1895 by a group of Italian women in order to enable medical care for people affected by an outbreak of plague.[1]
Vais died in 1932, whilst still Director of the Italian Girls' School.[1]