contribution of missionaries to education in ghana
Help those suffering in Turkey and Syria. Your email address will not be published. Despite the skills and opportunities mission schooling afforded, many Africans were not willing to pay the price. Apart from the extreme south and the Horn, the interior was hardly touched by Europeans before the last quarter of the Nineteenth Century. In 1950 Albert Academy was founded in Freetown; for-a long lime it was the secondary school in the Colony serving largely children from the provinces, among them were the future heads of state, Sir Milton Margai and Dr. Siaka Stevens. 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). Some of these effects are still with us today. As much as the governments liked to assign blame to the missions, they were also accountable for the poor education through their educational policies. The Methodists, known as the Wesleyan Missionaries (after their founder), arrived in Freetown in 1811. She succeeded in stopping the killing of twins in the areas where she served. Technical and vocational education had been emphasized in the education system in Ghana since the colonial era. About the same time, the Church of Scotland (Presbyterian) headed by the Rev. The governor had observed the bad moral life of the Europeans in the fort. The Roman Catholic Sisters provided medical care in the Upper and Northern Regions of the country before the government started to provide hospitals and clinics in the regional and district headquarters. Instruction in the Colonial School and the Wesleyan Mission schools at Cape Coast Castle was in English despite the fact that Fanti was the language of the native people. In this respect the Christian religion therefore differed from the traditional religions of West Africa, which along with an acceptance of one Supreme Being worshipped a hierarchy of gods. Box 2 of the papers relating to the Society's activities in West Africa. In the Gambia, the Methodist missionary and first principal of what later became known as the Gambia High School, the Rev. This thesis discusses and assesses contribution of Christian Missionaries to education in Meru from 1908 to 1963. The statistical evidence suggests that education would have spread more evenly. The Basel Mission. From 1870 to 1914 the Basel Mission succeeded in extending its work from the Akwapim Ridge to Kwahu, Akim and Asante and across the Volta as far as Yendi the north in 1913. To export a reference to this article please select a referencing stye below: If you are the original writer of this essay and no longer wish to have your work published on UKEssays.com then please: Our academic writing and marking services can help you! A notable example, in Ghana, was the Methodist experimental farm near Cape Coast whose crops included cotton, coffee, black pepper, mango, ginger, cinnamon and olive trees. A new attempt to spread Christianity was made when the Church Missionary Society (CMS) arrived from Britain in 1821. Then share it on your favourite social media platform for the benefit of others you care about. This finding was supported by two types of analysis. He worked zealously as an evangelist and schoolmaster in the Castle School until his death in 1816. The CMS began to work in the freed slave villages in Sierra Leone in 1804 and the Methodist in 1811. Call: +233558280780, Your email address will not be published. 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. 2: Trans-Saharan Trade. 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 He professed vows in 1953 in Conesus, N.Y., and was ordained to the priesthood in 1961 at Techny, Ill. Some observers have argued that the Europeans used the Christian bible to justify the practice of slavery and the slave trade. Ghana Education Service seeks to create an enabling environment in all educational institutions and management positions that will facilitate effective teaching and learning and efficiency in the management for the attainment of the goals of the Service. But with the abolition of slavery, the introduction of cocoa, and the Churchs efficient school system, she gradually became the Church of the social elite. For the West Africans, the acceptance of Christianity meant the total rejection of most of the cherished institutions upon which their society rested. A member of the CMS, Henry Venn, boasted that the mission schools of Nigeria would produce an educated African elite that could form an intelligent and influential class of society and become the founders of a Kingdom which shall render incalculable benefits to Africa (Venn cited in Bassey 1991:37). CUP Archive, 1979. I will earn a commission if you follow a link to purchase a product. Copyright 20102023, The Conversation Media Group Ltd, Bristol Archives/Universal Images Group/Getty Images, Committee Member - MNF Research Advisory Committee, PhD Scholarship - Uncle Isaac Brown Indigenous Scholarship. The restrictions intensified until in the second week of 1917, when all German missionaries were rounded up, brought to Accra and deportations began on December 16. Kalu, Ogbu. The first batch, who came out between 1804 and 1806, included pioneer missionaries like Renner and Nylander. As happened in parts of Yorubaland in the last century, some of the Christian missionaries often engaged in local politics and took an active part in helping the colonial authorities in their wars of territorial expansion. Properly meant by Anglo-Saxon standards. better grades Ramseyer had at first not intended a missionary sojourn in Ashanti. The Methodists founded the Boys High School in 1874, and another high school for girls six years later. In 1954, he became the first Deaf African American to earn a bachelor's degree from Gallaudet University, the American university for the Deaf, and the first to earn a master's degree from Eastern Michigan University.He earned a second master's degree from Seattle Pacific Christian . In this essay on the impact of Christian missionary activities on Ghanaian society, we shall examine the role of the missionaries in the development of Ghana and the rest of Africa. In Ghana, for instance, they persuaded their converts to reject polygamy and human sacrifice. 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. Groundless fears that the converts would become contaminated with paganism led some of the Christian missionaries, notably the Presbyterians, to separate the Christians from the rest of the township. By focusing on the African demand for education, I showed that Africans were not just passive recipients of mission schooling. The Journal of Negro Education, 2019 Instead of needing to import skilled workers such as carpenters, the mission schools provided colonial governments with workers capable of building and maintaining the colonys infrastructure and basic technology, a contribution that kept the colonies running smoothly. Almost all the missions in West Africa faced financial problems in the early stages of their missionary work. Two other training colleges opened by the missionaries, in the early days, were the Wesley College in Kumasi (1922) and the Roman Catholic Training College at Amisano, near Elmina (1931) which in 1936 moved to the campus of the newly founded secondary school, St Augustines College at Cape Coast. The impact of Christianity on West African society has persisted to this day. A new era began with the settlements of Black Christians from Nova Scotia in Sierra Leone in 1787 and the missionary advance inland from Cape Town beginning with the arrival there of J. T. van der Kemp in 1799. This special relationship continued until 1960 when Fourah Bay became a college of the newly reconstituted University of Sierra Leone; the other constituent college located at Njala developed from a training college founded in 1920. These commercial activities, therefore, made an important contribution to the economic development of Ghana. Johann Christaller produced a similar work in Twi. Moreover, mission education formed a poor foundation for future educational conditions in the former colonies. %%EOF Missionaries and the intellectual history of Africa: a historical survey. Itinerario 7, no. Burns & Oates, 1979. independent learning 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. The positive contribution of Christian missionaries in Ghana can be felt in such areas as education, local language development, stoppage of outmoded cultural practices, agriculture and commerce. Literature The First Missionaries were sent as a result of a request by Major de Richelieu, Governor of Christiansborg. Within a short time the missionaries spread their activities inland. The education and skill development of the people is the highest, most potent agent of national development that the Church imparts to its output of students, scholars, and professionals who perform various precious roles in the various sectors of the national economy for national development,' he stated. Thomas Birch Freeman, son of a London-based West Indian father and an English mother. endstream endobj startxref EVANGELICAL MOVEMENTS AND MISSIONARY SOCIETIES IN THE ENGLISH COLONIES. Support earthquake relief and outreach efforts, biblical foundation for the next generation of believers. By 1914 there were barely thirty schools in that vast area. Soon after, in 1835 they moved up to Akropong on the hills in Akuapem, where the pioneer missionary the Rev. In traditionally monogamous societies, primary school completion increased by about eight percent, but only four percent in polygamous societies. Copyright 2023 ABWE. The Wesleyan and Basel missionaries established schools in Cape Coast, Accra . Among his pioneering achievements, he arranged for three youths to be sent to England for training as evangelists. Already have a license? Today almost all of the population is Presbyterian, although the ancestral royal cult and many spirit cults still flourish. In my study, I explored how colonial era conflicts and disagreements over marriage norms lastingly affected educational development. After completing that assignment, Father Burkes superiors asked him to teach English as a second language (ESL) to Divine Word missionaries who did not know the language. It would be wrong, however, to blame all these ills on the Christian missionaries alone. Up to Guggisbergs time, the church schools did not receive grants from the government. To supplement these missionary efforts in the field of higher education, the government opened its own secondary school in Lagos in 1909, this was Kings College. Last, missionaries provided a very poor education, causing their students to be ill-equipped for social or material success, as they believed education to simply be a means for proselytization, were unqualified teachers, and allowed inter-denominational rivalries to interfere. It happens that some people convert at the end of their life in order to be buried in the prestigious Presbyterian cemetery. Christianity in West Africa: The Nigerian Story. 517 0 obj <>/Filter/FlateDecode/ID[<2E41B338ACB2B2110A00B08D5A5CFE7F>]/Index[503 20]/Info 502 0 R/Length 86/Prev 357984/Root 504 0 R/Size 523/Type/XRef/W[1 3 1]>>stream Mission Statement West Africa and Christianity. Among other missionary hospitals of long standing and reputation are those run by the Methodists at Wenkyi in the Brong-Ahafo Region, and by the Seventh Day Adventists at Kwahu Atibie in the Eastern Region. Therefore, considering that the impact of mission education continues to have serious repercussions today, one must question whether the First World should continue to interfere in African education. 1931. Again, in West-Africa, the efforts to go beyond the coast to reach those inland with the gospel coincided with the southwards expansion of Islam which posed some threat to the expansion of the work of Christian evangelizing missions. On the opposite side, the coming of the Christian missionaries brought in its wake certain negative developments like disregard for African culture and rebellion against traditional authority. All work is written to order. The study examines the historical foundations of Western education in Meru and factors that influenced its development. Metadata. The government gave grants according to the strength of the staff and the efficiency of the school judged by inspection reports and the results of public examinations. After a time the idea becomes ingrained -it is heathen and unchristian to be an African culturally (Awori cited in Berman 1974:536). An attempt to respond to this question informs the underlying interest for this paper, namely, to explore the extent to which these institutions, especially . This instruction in 1948 developed into the University College in Ibadan. I compared data on the historical locations of mission stations since 1924, in 26 sub-Saharan countries with recent education data between 2008 and 2018. However, with time, they brought some crops, which they cultivated and which sustained them. They therefore set about to achieve this through introduction of formal education among the Batswana people. By the close of the nineteenth century the major Christian missionary churches had opened elementary schools in many part of southern Nigeria with an enrolment of about 74,000 by the First World War. ASSESS THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE CHRISTIAN MISSION TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF GHANA. Europe in those days looked upon Africa as the Dark Continent with very primitive civilizations, and most Europeans refused to adapt their religion to suit the local situation. They were followed by other major missionary bodies, including the Methodists and the Roman Catholics. Roman Catholic and Anglican missionaries came to the Gold Coast from the 15th century. 4; img 109. "Big things have small beginnings"; so is The Presbyterian Church of Ghana. 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. 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. Yet, the relationship between European missionaries and African populations had some contradictions. It was only after the Second World War that the colonial governments started to show a real interest in the promotion of formal education in West Africa. New missionary societies (the LMS, the CMS, the Holy Ghost Fathers, the White Fathers, etc.) However, by the turn of the Nineteenth Century there was systematic efforts by churches of Christian Europe, namely: Anglicans, Methodists, and Baptists who were active in Sierra Leone and, with Presbyterians, in Nigeria, while Methodists also set up missions in Ghana, Gambia, and Dahomey. Joseph Dunwell. Copyright 2003 - 2023 - UKEssays is a trading name of Business Bliss Consultants FZE, a company registered in United Arab Emirates. It also plays an important role in organization of inheritances within matrilineal houses and thus exerts influence from a legal point of view. However, as Jonathan Miran (2002) argues in his work on the roles of missionaries and the Italian state in Eritrean education, missionaries should not be held solely accountable for the poor standards of education. During this period, difficulties encountered were different from the initial difficulties which will more related to sickness, deaths and the suspicion of indigenous people in accepting the Gospel. A short history of education in British West Africa. 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. Of the ten largest congregations for men, the Society of the Divine Word is the fastest growing over the past 50 years. Hundreds of believers were baptized, branches organized, and a mission established. These Christian converts considered themselves to be holier than their traditional rulers and elders. Development of Education in Sierra Leone. Longman Nigeria Plc., 1994, Boahen, A.A. et al Tropics in West Africa History. Many missionaries died because of the climate and tropical disease. They were followed in turn by the Methodists and the Roman Catholics. Governments are also not free from blame even if they had a laissez-faire educational policy, as in Ghana, where until 1944 the registration of schools was not required and no attempt was made to exert detailed control even over the activities of grant-aided [by the government] institutions except for a series of minimal registrations (Foster 1965:114). West African Senior School Certificate Examination.
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