contribution of missionaries to education in ghana

The problems created by the white missionaries themselves arose largely from a misconception of what Africa represented. After World War I was declared in 1914, the German missionaries were restricted in their movements by the British in the British colonies. Babalola, E. O. Christianity in West Africa. For example, they made our people view polygamy and puberty rites as pagan practices. The Essay Writing ExpertsUK Essay Experts. They also prescribed many taboos which, in the light of modern medical science, had no relation whatever with the illness being treated. The traditions and values of the community, as well as the meaning of life, were taught to the child. They were followed in turn by the Methodists and the Roman Catholics. While the protestant evangelical movements were gaining ground in West Africa, similar movements were being promoted by the Roman Catholic Church in Europe. Preventive medicine was hardly known; the result was that epidemics of different kinds were frequent. When he arrived in Nkwatia-Kwahu to teach English at St. Peters Secondary School, the town had yet to benefit from electricity and running water. As negative as all these impacts of the missionaries undoubtedly were for the African pupils, the long-term consequences are arguably as serious. As happened in other West African countries, many more mission-sponsored hospitals were founded in the course of the twentieth century. Further, the missionaries introduced improved methods of farming together with modern farm implements. The missionaries opened schools further inland, and by 1880, the Wesleyan Mission had eighty -three schools. The early African converts to Christianity, were made to abandon their ancestral culture and way of life as pagan therefore to be shunned. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Your email address will not be published. NUUT Co. Ltd. Kumasi, Ghana, 2011, Baarkinado. Up to Guggisbergs time, the church schools did not receive grants from the government. The Akim area had about 3400 converts over 32 villages and there were about 900 children distributed in 27 Schools. Mission societies often expanded into territories before colonial powers did, and providing education only cost them a little more. Lewis, Donald M., ed. The agricultural schools the missions ran would have been even more advantageous to the colonial governments considering the discouragement of local industries that might have competed with the motherland. In spite of all this, with the advent of the First World War in 1914 in the Kwaku District there were 21 congregations with a total of over 2500 members. In the Gambia, the Methodist missionary and first principal of what later became known as the Gambia High School, the Rev. Teacher training colleges in Ghana did not expand as fast as the secondary schools. Christian missionaries were the first to introduce European-style education in sub-Saharan Africa. This thesis discusses and assesses contribution of Christian Missionaries to education in Meru from 1908 to 1963. Among several others, the native Bishop Ajayi Crowther produced the first translation of the Bible in Yoruba. She succeeded in stopping the killing of twins in the areas where she served. We've received widespread press coverage since 2003, Your UKEssays purchase is secure and we're rated 4.4/5 on reviews.co.uk. This is the famous Presbyterian Teacher Training College founded in 1848 at Akropong-Akwapim. essay writing 2006 - 2023 Microform Academic Publishers | Microform Academic Publishers is a division of Microform Imaging Limited (Company registered in England no. Again, the missionaries persuaded Africans to abandon the practice of tribal marks. Etherington, Norman. He is survived by two brothers, Walter and Kevin Burke. In addition to contributing to fluctuating educational standards across the colony, inter-denominational rivalry caused a disparity in access to education. The Christian Connector Scholarship. Prior to advent of the Christian missionaries and indeed well into the pre-independence period, most sick people depended for cure upon concoction herbs and roots and barks of trees. Despite their significant contributions to education, local language development, agriculture and the economy as a whole, the missionaries have been criticized severally. station in 1858, it was not until 1889 that the missionaries entered Hausaland, which was predominantly Muslim. In conclusion, the educational enterprise of the Christian missionaries in the British and Italian colonies of Africa during the mid-nineteenth to mid-twentieth centuries was primarily negative for the African pupils. Thus, because of the motive of proselytization, unqualified teachers, and inter-denominational rivalry, missions frequently provided poor education. Although there were many disagreements between European missionaries and African populations, antagonising polygamy is probably the best-documented norm conflict. Among the first missionaries was the Rev. 26. Your email address will not be published. The story of the planting of Christianity in Nigeria would be incomplete without a mention of the Italian Roman Catholic priest, Father Berghero. Johann Christaller produced a similar work in Twi. Today, local communities and ethnic groups that were more exposed to mission schools, still achieve higher levels of education, when compared to communities where there were no schools. There were only bush paths, and no roads in the early times. The Basel Mission, as a result of this phenomenal expansion trained many local personnel to man the new stations. First, missions saw education foremost as a means of conversion (Ayandele 1966: 286; Bassey 1991: 36; Berman 1974:527; Foster 1965:85; Sheffield 1973:11). For example, they preached against human sacrifice. university courses English 1 (1971): 103-115. Their greatest legacy in the field of education was the foundation which the Methodist laid for what is today the Gambia High school. Get full access to all 9,566 pages that make up the Ghana in Records from Colonial Missionaries, 1886-1951 collection. grammatical name Schools were deemed important. It is simply one of the gross evils of heathen society which, like habitual murder or slavery, must at all costs be ended. These commercial activities, therefore, made an important contribution to the economic development of Ghana. Similar developments were carried out by the missionaries in other Nigerian languages, Efik, Kanuri, Igbo, etc. In 1858 ten years after the founding of the first college, the Presbyterians opened a sister college at Aburi for the training of women teachers. However, the discovery of quinine and other curative medicines in the late 19th century made the history of the missionary work in West Africa a different thing altogether. Father Vincent Burke SVD, 83, recipient of Ghanas Officer of the Order of Volta Award, passed away at Techny, Ill., on Sept. 21. Kalu, Ogbu. Website design and development by Americaneagle.com, Inc, Society of the Divine Word- Western Province, Society of the Divine Word- Southern Province. Apart from the extreme south and the Horn, the interior was hardly touched by Europeans before the last quarter of the Nineteenth Century. There were related organizations that sprang up in Scandinavia, Holland and the USA. Rather, it denationalized and facilitated the indignity and loss of cultural identity of the Ghanaian. Vol. Besides education, they cared for the sick. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations in the name of Father Burke can be made for the care of elderly and infirm missionaries and sent to The Rector, Divine Word Residence, 1901 Waukegan Road, P.O. non-slave trade), Christianity, Civilization and Colonization. Other difficulties they faced were the problems of the many languages and dialects and their ignorance of the true meaning of the various cultures, beliefs, values and ways of life of the people whom they set out to convert to Christianity. Within ten years the C.M.S had opened twelve more schools in what is today Cross Rivers State. Its message was that of love and the universal brotherhood of mankind. All rights reserved. Here you can choose which regional hub you wish to view, providing you with the most relevant information we have for your specific region. As Ayandele points out (1966:285), the ideal of many of the missions was to make their converts live literally as the unlearned and ignorant apostles of old. This ideal, combined with the fact that many missionaries discovered that Africans with only basic education were best at spreading the Gospel, meant that missionaries were reluctant to provide higher primary or secondary education (Ayandele 1966:286). Buchi Emecheta All rights reserved. One of them, Philip Quaque, returned in 1765 as an ordained priest. His funeral Mass was Sept. 27, followed by burial at St. Mary Cemetery at Techny. Do you have a 2:1 degree or higher? Even if secondary education was provided, it was often reserved for the sons of local chiefs (Oliver 1952:212; Beck 1966: 120), an elite the colonial government could then call upon to help rule the colony, a common practice in colonial Africa. History After earlier unsuccessful attempts by the missionaries Chretien Proten, Henrick Huckuff and Jacobus Capitein, the Anglican, Rev. The school, which was established the year of independence in 1957, was a work in progress. One of their scholarships is a drawing for $2,500. The contents of this tutorial will serve as a guide for a suitable essay on the below WAEC/WASSCE History past question. In 2006, Father Burke was appointed lecturer at the newly founded Catholic University College of Ghana in Sunyani. Their personal and family choices influenced the expansion speed of missionary education. In 1827 it grew into Fourah Bay College. Wed love to get to know you and discuss how God is calling you. No plagiarism, guaranteed! They had to speak through few interpreters who did not have sufficient education to interpret correctly. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004. But despite the work of Portuguese missionaries based on the island of Sao Tome and later of Spanish missionaries in Benin, it was not until the nineteenth century that the Christian religion was firmly established in Nigeria. This comes at no extra cost to you. In conclusion, the converts tended to look down upon many things in their ancestral culture. The early European Christian missionaries in West Africa experienced a number of difficulties, some arising from factors outside their control and others of their own making. Renewed evangelisation started when the Basel (later known as Presbyterian) missionaries started work at Osu (Accra). The high temperatures coupled with high rainfall patterns in some parts of the country experienced during the daytime, made the missionaries stay indoors, which slowed down their activities. While they frowned upon bridewealth, female genital cutting, or matrilineality, they held a special grudge against polygamy. If you need assistance with writing your essay, our professional essay writing service is here to help! life skills wassce literature questions. For instance, the Basel Mission established the first teacher training college in Ghana. Moreover, they introduced new crops into the Ghanaian economy. B. et al. Email: henrydonsco@gmail.com The latter, non-academic form of education provided by the missions has stimulated much interest among scholars, who are particularly interested in the failure of many of these schools and the hypocritical government support for the schools, seeing as the import of cheap goods from the mother countries caused many vocational school graduates, such as seamstresses, to be unemployed (Ayandele 1966:296; Foster 1965:134). In Ghana, for instance, they persuaded their converts to reject polygamy and human sacrifice. The Methodists founded the Boys High School in 1874, and another high school for girls six years later. These new movements considered such ventures to be their contribution to Europes reparation for centuries of exploitation of Africans, reparation for the centuries of exploitation which the Trans Atlantic slave trade had caused to African society. We shall begin with the positive contribution of the Christian missionaries in Ghana. He worked zealously as an evangelist and schoolmaster in the Castle School until his death in 1816. John G. Christaller (described as the Father of Twi Literature) produced a Twi grammar and dictionary, a collection of Twi proverbs, a Twi translation of the Bible as well as prayers and hymns. This box contains: the correspondence of Bishop See thematic groupings of our digital collections, See all of our digital collections in one place, Ghana in Records from Colonial Missionaries, 1886-1951, Copies of letters received, 1890-1927; West Africa, vol. We use cookies to improve your experience on our website. As a predominantly Roman Catholic country, France encouraged Roman Catholic missionaries right from the start of her colonial activities in West Africa. Some progressive Europeans, like the first principal of Achimota College, Rev. All work is written to order. These missions significantly influenced the systematic educational development in the Gold Coast. Predominantly Muslim territory, the North received western education later than the South. The blessings which Christianity has brought to West Africa are many. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Thomas Birch Freeman, son of a London-based West Indian father and an English mother. A tiny act of kindness is remembered by a young man in need. opened was the Christian Institute, established in 1814 for the training of teachers, catechists and priests. missionaries was the development of literature in Yoruba. In the British colonies, as elsewhere, religious missions were instrumental in introducing European-style education. Human Zoos: Untold History of Suppression, The Legend of King Ulu (Ancient Thai Folklore), The Kingdom of Saud of The Arabs (Saudi Arabia), The Wesley Brothers of Oxford University (1700s), Razia Sultan of Medieval India (786 Years Ago), The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade (The Revelation), Education in Africa: The Impact of Colonialism, Why The Legendary Geneva Bible was Banned. Series CLS. Furthermore, they were skilled farmers that could grow cash crops to be consumed back in the mother country, such as cocoa from Ghana (Foster 1965: 153). It was difficult for the European missionaries to communicate freely with the local people. Evans Brothers, Ltd. London. Purchase a license below to view the full collection. About the same time, the Church of Scotland (Presbyterian) headed by the Rev. Operating from Whydah in what is today the Peoples Republic of Benin (formerly Dahomey), Father Berghero, in 1860, visited Abeokuta and Lagos where freed Catholic slaves from Brazil welcomed him warmly. The three models of Secondary education in Ghana since colonial times are the Mfantsipim School founded by the Church (mission) in 1876, Achimota School in 1927 established by the British Colonial government Origins, organization and effects in the development of West Africa, 3: Islam in West Africa. Although it can be said that Christian missionaries benefitted Africans by bringing in the more advanced Western education to the European colonies in Africa, it is believed that the mission schools in fact had a negative impact on the native peoples. Father Burke was preceded in death by his parents and his brother John. Thus, as early as 1823, the Roman Catholic sisters started a clinic for the sick and for children in Banjul. Theres still so much to be learned from the history of education in Africa and its long-term consequences. I well remember when he came to live with me in Trenton. Father Burke spent more than half of his lifealmost 50 yearsin Ghana on the West Coast of Africa, said Father Edward Tetteh SVD, pastor of Blessed Sacrament-Our Lady of Divine Shepherd in Trenton, N.J. During his many years in Ghana, since he worked mostly in educational institutions, he produced excellent professionals: teachers, priests, ministers, doctors, engineers, lawyers, pharmacists, journalists and many others who work in different parts of the world.. In December 1868 he went with his wife and child to Anum in the present-day Volta Region of Ghana. 2018). Their records from World War One show their distance from the war and yet that it did affect their decisions. If a government fails to regulate schools at all, they have no right to complain that the education in their colony is poor. He professed vows in 1953 in Conesus, N.Y., and was ordained to the priesthood in 1961 at Techny, Ill. Many missionaries died because of the climate and tropical disease. The impact of Christianity on West African society has persisted to this day. The Christian missionaries of different missionary societies made a tremendous contribution to education in South Africa. The Christian religion teaches the doctrine of one supreme God and is opposed to the worship of any other forms of deity. This research was funded by the European Research Council. Then share it on your favourite social media platform for the benefit of others you care about. personal development The First Missionaries were sent as a result of a request by Major de Richelieu, Governor of Christiansborg. In Nigeria, one of the lasting works of the C.M.S missionaries was the development of literature in Yoruba. Johannes Zimmermann wrote a grammar of the Ga language and translated the entire Bible and a Bible history into Ga. Then in 1874, the Rev. In the case of Ghana, like other nations, the impact . Again, the Wesleyan missionaries established Mfantsipim School in Cape Coast in 1876. Besides, the missionaries had to travel longer distances to inland towns from their southern stations. The next major Christian missionaries to go out to Sierra Leone were the Roman Catholics. To their minds, Africans were too backward and needed help to become more civilized. After six years at St. Peters, Father Burke was named chaplain and professor of English literature at St. Thomas Aquinas Secondary School in Osu, Ghana. The third, St Nicholas Grammar School (now Adisadel College), was founded by the Anglican Church in 1910. Furthermore, mission schools discouraged traditional ways of life outside of the classroom. A history of African Christianity 1950-1975. However hypocritical, government support for the schools should not be surprising, considering the benefits the colonial governments stood to gain. Like the Methodists, the Roman Catholic missionaries spread the faith notably in the interior, which later became Protectorate. Therefore, whether through their rigid educational polices or lack thereof, colonial governments contributed to the poor education, though there is no denying that missionaries also contributed to the quality of education to a great extent. The statistical evidence suggests that education would have spread more evenly. In line with this, formal education in Ghana was started by the western traders and the missionaries by the 15th century through the 18th century respectively. Frank Ogodo Ogbeche By using postcolonial theory as a framework for analysis, it is evident that the Western formal education introduced to the people of the Gold Coast by the Christian missionaries and the British Colonial government did not serve the indigenous population well. The others included the Christian responsibility for the regeneration of African peoples. Secondary Schools in the Protectorate started later, following the establishment of Bo Government Secondary School in 1906. However the superficial motivations and ideologies have changed, at the most basic level both contemporary Northern charities and nineteenth century missionaries share the belief that the North must come and save the suffering natives, which in the case of the missionaries, has been proven to have inflicted more harm than provided relief. Founded in 1875 by St. Arnold Janssen, we number more than 6,000 missionaries. Initially,. 2023 Society of the Divine Word. The American Episcopal Evangelical (A.M.E.) Zion Church owes its foundation in Ghana to Bishop J. Bryan Small, who started work first at Keta in 1898. In 1859, the first newspaper in Yoruba. Your email address will not be published. 'In view of this idea, Mmofraturo, the first girls boarding school in Ashanti was officially . In 1880, two Roman Catholic priests of the Society of African Missions (S.M.A. As long as the Africans could read the Bible, the missionaries were satisfied that they had had enough academic education. better grades This single problem made the missionary work very difficult. Without denying that prior to the introduction of Christianity in West Africa the people had developed their own crafts, one must admit that it was Christian missionaries who introduced modern forms of crafts such as carpentry and masonry. Four volumes of incoming correspondence marked "West Africa" on the spine. Their converts increased steadily in numbers until 1821 when a section broke away to form the first independent African, Christian church in West Africa, called the West Africa Methodist Church. English grammar Here you can choose which regional hub you wish to view, providing you with the most relevant information we have for your specific region. Among these were the Congregation of the Holy Ghost (commonly known as the Holy Ghost Father), the Society of African Missions (SMA), the Society of Missionaries of Africa, popularly known as the White Fathers because of the white Muslim-like clothing which the Fathers wore, and the society of the Divine Word (SVD, abbreviated from its Latin name). Through academic lessons and lessons on Western etiquette and hygiene, mission students were isolated from their traditional cultures, a traumatic experience that would continue to trouble many students for the rest of their lives. Who is Mrs. Konrad in Second Class Citizen? The Wesleyan and Basel missionaries established schools in Cape Coast, Accra . Bamgboye & Company Press, 1976. One method of discouraging traditional practices was to give students a fully Western education. During the first half of the 19th century they targeted healthier places, with relatively lower malaria-risk, where European missionaries could survive and train local African missionaries and teachers (Jedwab et al. These Christian converts considered themselves to be holier than their traditional rulers and elders. Africa and the Winder World 3. Another missionary whose memory is revered in Nigeria was Mary Slessor, she arrived in the country in 1876, and for many years worked assiduously as a missionary nurse. The Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist and Anglican missions all made a major contribution to education in Ghana and Africa as a whole. Above, we have described the role that trading companies, missionaries, and the government played for the spread of Western education in the coastal areas from the late sixteenth century onwards. In 1859, the first newspaper in Yoruba, called the Iwe-Irohim, was published by the missionaries. However, the motivation behind teaching Africans basic literacy and mathematics might not have been a cause for concern if not for the fact that the religious motivation curtailed education. Then lets begin straightaway. ), Father Auguste Moreau and Father Eugene Murat, arrived at Elmina and revived the Roman Catholic Church in Ghana. Specifically, it addresses the unique role of Christian missions in. (As at December 2020). In the same year as the Basel missionaries settled in Akuapem 1835 the Wesleyan (later Methodist) Church was established at Cape Coast by the Rev. Their converts, for many years, were confined to the people of southern Nigerian extraction resident in the north, and to the-large non-Muslim population of the north. senior high school crs The effort of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. It is much easier to interact on an equal basis or even challenge the authority of another group when one is able to communicate in that groups language, instead of having to rely on an interpreter or non-verbal gestures, which undermine ones ability to show authority or express ones beliefs. He was followed, three years afterwards, by the Rev. Yet, the relationship between European missionaries and African populations had some contradictions. In such asituation, provisions and other things had to be sent into the country not in large quantities as would have been desired by the missionaries. Find below a list of mission schools that still exist in Ghana today. The governor had observed the bad moral life of the Europeans in the fort. As one Eritrean student remarks, Our sisters [the Italian Sisters] would have undoubtedly taught better and more, but the Italian government in the colony did not permit Eritreans to get good instruction (T.T. Was this information useful? Seeing as missions in the British and Italian colonies had monopolies on education for the nineteenth to mid-twentieth centuries, this reluctance meant that there were few secondary schools at all (Ayandele 1966:287; Beck 1966: 120). In addition to teaching, he served as national spiritual director of the Ghana Sacred Heart Enthronement Centre and spiritual director of the Accra Diocesan Sacred Heart Centre. %PDF-1.7 % Thank you! Called the Iwe-Irohim, was published by the missionaries. It was also terribly hard for a woman to be driven away, and to lose her status in the society where she is respected as a wife and a mother. In the same year as the Basel missionaries settled in Akuapem in 1835, the Wesleyan (later Methodist) Church was established at Cape Coast by the Rev. For more than a year, Ghanaian Saints continued to practice their faith in their homes. Some observers have argued that the Europeans used the Christian bible to justify the practice of slavery and the slave trade. Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Bremen, Research Center on Inequality and Social Policy (SOCIUM), Universitt Bremen. The missionary activities in Nigeria, especially their educational programs helped to whip-up the consciousness of a shared identity and helped to train a new set of elite that championed the course of nationalism and constituted a virile leadership for the young nation at independence.Click to see full answer What is missionary education?A mission school or [] In many instances, they made their converts rebel against traditional rulers and other spiritual leaders. Thus by training Africans to fill only the lower levels of the colonial administration and providing skilled workers from the vocational and agricultural schools who contributed to the economy and were less likely to question colonial rule than more educated Africans, mission schools helped to strengthen colonial rule. They include Sierra Leone 1900-1933; Ghana 1903; Cape Verde 1904-1910; and St Vincent 1907-1912. In 1876 the college became associated with Durham University in England, which awarded degrees to students of the college. In addition to promoting a monogamous lifestyle in their schools, missionaries often insisted on divorces before polygamists or their children could even enrol. church were founded in south-eastern Nigeria, the chief centres being Bonny and Brass. These contradictions are surprisingly absent from contemporary research. Longman Group Ltd. London and Basingstoke, 1986, Fage, J.D. Education (2002), the latest committee to work on education reforms in Ghana, recommended a critical review and approach to making teacher education relevant to the devel-opment of the country. The city of Akuropong capital of the Akan state of Akuapem in Ghana, has known the Christian presence during the last 186 years, initially centered on the Basel Mission, then on the Free Church of Scotland, and now on the Presbyterian Church of Ghana. In fact, Jacobus Capitein, a former Ghanaian slave who became a priest in the Dutch Reformed Church in the 18th century was on record to have defended the practice of slavery. EVANGELICAL MOVEMENTS AND MISSIONARY SOCIETIES IN THE ENGLISH COLONIES. In my study, I explored how colonial era conflicts and disagreements over marriage norms lastingly affected educational development. 4; img 109. The Basel missionaries arrived on the shores of the Gold Coast in 1828 and Similar organizations were formed in several other European countries. 2: Trans-Saharan Trade. All the three secondary schools in Cape Coast were mission institutions.

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