contribution of missionaries to education in ghana

The missionaries condemned African religion, music, art, festivals and customary practices. 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). While the protestant evangelical movements were gaining ground in West Africa, similar movements were being promoted by the Roman Catholic Church in Europe. In regions where a denomination felt threatened by another denomination, the denominations were more likely to establish more schools in an attempt to gain more converts than their rival, while in regions such as northern Nigeria, where colonial policy prevented too much rivalry, schools were scarce (Bassey 1991:45). Father Vincent Burke SVD, 83, recipient of Ghanas Officer of the Order of Volta Award, passed away at Techny, Ill., on Sept. 21. He introduced the Methodist Church in Asante in 1839, and won the support of the Asante king, Otumfour Nana Kweku Duah I who reigned between 25th August 1834 to 27th April 1867). The others include the French trading posts at Grand Bassam (Ivory Coast), Assinie and Libreville in Gabon. 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. Before 1925, there were only three secondary schools and three teacher training colleges in Ghana. which were for females (Graham, 1971). The Methodist Church Ghana came into existence as a result of the missionary activities of the Wesleyan Methodist Church, inaugurated with the arrival of Joseph Rhodes Dunwell to the Gold Coast (Ghana) in 1835.Like the mother church, the Methodist Church in Ghana was established by people of Anglican background. 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. Despite their significant contributions to education, local language development, agriculture and the economy as a whole, the missionaries have been criticized severally. However, accustomed to monogamy, few European missionaries were open to such arguments. This allowed me to estimate the impact of mission schooling directly. All rights reserved. Another reason why the Europeans came to spread the Christian religion in Ghana was to pave their own way into eternal glory. This was around the same time that the first Portuguese sailors arrived on the coast of Ghana. We use cookies to improve your experience on our website. This decreased the zeal with which people began to accept the Gospel leading to nominal Christianity. They also prescribed many taboos which, in the light of modern medical science, had no relation whatever with the illness being treated. For instance, the Basel Mission established Basel Mission Trading Company (UTC) in 1859. 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. 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. 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. Moreover, mission education formed a poor foundation for future educational conditions in the former colonies. Soon after the Methodist experiment, the church Missionary Society set up their own school at Badagry. 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. The Christian missionaries have been credited with the discontinuation of some obnoxious traditional practices among Ghanaians. Mission societies often expanded into territories before colonial powers did, and providing education only cost them a little more. He was very simple in dress and in the use of modern technology, Father Tetteh said. 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. These missionary societies laid the foundations of the Roman Catholic Church in West Africa, which lasted through to the independence period when African clergy replaced the white pastors. THE CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES AND VERNACULAR LITERATURE; Another valuable contribution of the Christian missionaries in West Africa was the development of literature in the local vernaculars, this included the translation of the Bible into some of the important local languages. This involved learning to read in the vernacular (Hadfield cited in Bone 1969:7). They therefore set about to achieve this through introduction of formal education among the Batswana people. CONTRIBUTION OF CHRISTIANITY TO WEST AFRICA. 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). 2023 Society of the Divine Word. 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. It would be wrong, however, to blame all these ills on the Christian missionaries alone. This comes at no extra cost to you. In the 19thh century, too, Afro-Brazilians returned to Benin and Nigeria with Catholicism. However, with time, they brought some crops, which they cultivated and which sustained them. famous poems Debrunner, Hans Werner. 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. Burns & Oates, 1979. Its message was that of love and the universal brotherhood of mankind. 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. They were followed in turn by the Methodists and the Roman Catholics. primarily purposed to outline the contributions of religion and education to national development in Ghana. He is survived by two brothers, Walter and Kevin Burke. Two important private schools with strong Christian influence must also be mentioned: Accra High School, founded in 1923 and Accra Academy, established in ASSESS THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE CHRISTIAN MISSION TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF GHANA. This was the work of the great missionary, Thomas Birch Freeman, who placed two missionaries, Mr and Mrs. de Graft, in charge of the school. Even when governments discouraged domestic industries, graduates of vocational schools contributed to the economy of the colonies -and therefore indirectly the mother countrys as well. 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. A history of African Christianity 1950-1975. Missionaries continued to be the main providers of education even after colonial powers established control during the so-called Scramble for Africa which occurred between 1884-1914. Roman Catholic and Anglican missionaries came to the Gold Coast from the 15th century. Mission schools provided a steady stream of educated Africans capable of filling the lower levels of the colonial administration and operated vocational and agricultural schools (Ayandele 1966: 295; Foster 1965: 90-91; Sheffield 1973: 10-11). ), Father Auguste Moreau and Father Eugene Murat, arrived at Elmina and revived the Roman Catholic Church in Ghana. The contents of this tutorial will serve as a guide for a suitable essay on the below WAEC/WASSCE History past question. Daystar Press, 1978. JNE sustains a commitment to a threefold mission: first, to stimulate the collection and facilitate the dissemination of facts about the education of Black people; second, to present discussions involving critical appraisals of the proposals and practices relating to the education of Black people; and third, to stimulate and sponsor investigations of issues incident to the education of Black people. Africa and the Winder World 3. Then lets begin straightaway. Notably among these missionaries are the Wesleyan, Basel, and Bremen. the role of administrators, chiefs and the missions; first attempts at agricultural and industrial training; girls' education and teacher training before 1850; some chief factors in educational expansion 1850-1900; government official policy in educational expansion 1850-1900; agricultural, industrial and vernacular training 1850-1900 His request to the Danish Crown for missionaries was forwarded to . All the three secondary schools in Cape Coast were mission institutions. It is possible to hear the tune of this missionary hymn. One reason why the Christian missionaries came to Ghana and the rest of Africa was to convert the people to the Christian faith. James Fieldhouse, produced a Wolof Grammar in 1876. Learn how your comment data is processed. In 2011 at age 77, he retired from teaching and returned to the United States. Find below a list of mission schools that still exist in Ghana today. Ekechi, Felix K. Colonialism and Christianity in West Africa: The Igbo Case, 19001915. The Journal of African History 12, no. It happens that some people convert at the end of their life in order to be buried in the prestigious Presbyterian cemetery. Among several others, the native Bishop Ajayi Crowther produced the first translation of the Bible in Yoruba. 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. Today, human sacrifice is generally frowned upon and considered an abomination. And thats why I decided to look deeply into this issue. The Christian Connector is a great resource for Christians and aspiring ministry leaders and missionaries to apply for scholarships. The third, St Nicholas Grammar School (now Adisadel College), was founded by the Anglican Church in 1910. The others included the Christian responsibility for the regeneration of African peoples. self help The vast majority of the people of The Gambia are Moslems; but a sizeable percentage of the population, especially in and around the capital Banjul, are Christians. Predominantly Muslim territory, the North received western education later than the South. 1991. In the Western Region, the Catholic Sisters running a hospital at Eikwe specialized in maternity cases, and like Slessor in Nigeria succeeded in stamping out the practice of killing twins at birth. For instance, on 2nd October 1792, the Baptist Missionary Society was formed followed by the interdenominational London Missionary Society which was established in 1795. After an unsuccessful beginning by the society of African Missions (SMA), this missionary body moved into other territories in what is now Liberia, Ghana and Nigeria. They did a lot to impact the social and economic lives of Africans. 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. Andreas Riis, assisted by a team of West Indian evangelists, laid the foundations of the Basel Missionary Church in the country. Senior High School Literature The Roman Catholics established their first secondary school, St Augustines, at Cape Coast in 1936. In 1827 it grew into Fourah Bay College. J. G. Christaller produced a Twi Grammar and Dictionary. Although most people are Presbyterians, they can also go to spirit and other cults, mostly Christian and Pentecostal movements, to find cures for disease and lack of success in this world. Born in Cambridge, Mass., in 1933, Vincent Burke was the third of Walter and Eleanor (nee McGoff) Burkes four sons. The role of the Christian missionaries in Ghana and West Africa was not limited to the education and agricultural sectors alone. grammatical name Indeed, once the souls had been saved and since the students must have been considered clever enough, European languages were almost universally the languages of instruction in the later primary years and in secondary schools (Beck 1966: 120; Foster 1965: 159; Miran 2002:127). The evangelical societies founded in the Americas included the Baptist Missionary Board and the Nova Scotian Methodists, whose members went to work among the Maroons, who had settled mainly in Liberia. Another important Catholic missionary in this area was the Irishman, Bishop Shanahan. others adopted a system of education varied from one and the other hence, lacking consistency in the educational sector [3]. One of them, Philip Quaque, returned in 1765 as an ordained priest. After a time the idea becomes ingrained -it is heathen and unchristian to be an African culturally (Awori cited in Berman 1974:536). As founder and director at CEGAST, he has successfully coached thousands of students in English, Literature, and related subjects for major international examinations. Our academic experts are ready and waiting to assist with any writing project you may have. This single problem made the missionary work very difficult. Your email address will not be published. If you need assistance with writing your essay, our professional essay writing service is here to help! From the second half of the eighteenth century, a fervent wave of evangelical spirit developed in the United Kingdom, Europe and the New World which inspired men and women with the missionary fervour to found religious societies whose members would go out to Africa and the other lands. Their economic activities went beyond the development of agriculture. 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. Teaching in the vernacular had an additional use as it further strengthened colonial rule, of which missionaries were often agents, for as the Kikuyu people of Kenya were aware, [the] inability to communicate in English would be a crucial factor in the perpetuation of their subordinate status in the colony (Berman 1974:531). Foremost in the contribution of the early Christian missionaries to the development of Ghana is their efforts to bring Western education to Ghanaians. Hundreds of believers were baptized, branches organized, and a mission established. Meanwhile, the Scottish missionary, Mary Slessor, had established a reputation in the Cross River area as a nurse. In 1858 the Rev. One of their scholarships is a drawing for $2,500. Origins, organization and effects in the development of West Africa, 3: Islam in West Africa. skills for his or her future role in the society (Hetherington, 1979; Davidoff, 1980; Aboagye, 1997). By focusing on the African demand for education, I showed that Africans were not just passive recipients of mission schooling. It is important for several reasons. 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. As happened in other colonial territories, the government did not show great interest in the provision of education in Ghana until the missionaries had extended their services throughout the country and had set up primary schools and a few secondary schools and training colleges. 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. 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. He told me that that amount of money could pay for school fees for five students in secondary school in Ghana.. Therefore the period for the rise of Christianizing Missions in the late Nineteenth Century has been considered as reprise. In 1876 the college became associated with Durham University in England, which awarded degrees to students of the college. The original letters from abroad cover West Africa from 1899 to 1933. Volunteers and donors to organizations such as Compassion Canada believe that they are being humanitarian when they build schools in Africa, volunteer as teachers or help in other ways to improve the quality of education in African nations, yet missionaries and colonial governments were similarly lauded as performing a great work of humanity (Beck 1966:117) and likewise believed that they were helping their African pupils. Christianity reborn: the global expansion of evangelicalism in the twentieth century. The people received the message with indifference. This was a bitter pill for the Basel Mission to swallow after 19 years of devoted service in the mission field in the Gold Coast but they were not dismayed when they considered that in education and agriculture and artisan training and in the development of commerce, and medical services and concern for social welfare of the people, the name Basel by the time of expulsion of the mission from the country, had become a treasured word in the minds of the people. Required fields are marked *. senior high school history For three years, he taught English and biblical ethics. Missionaries and the intellectual history of Africa: a historical survey. Itinerario 7, no. The governor had observed the bad moral life of the Europeans in the fort. The Ghana Education Decentralization Project (GEDP), launched in 2010 and ended in 2012, has increased the influence of local authorities over management . 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 Not only did mission education strengthen colonial rule, but it also weakened traditional societies and implemented poor standards of Western education. The traditions and values of the community, as well as the meaning of life, were taught to the child. In fact in 1966, Father Burke led students to a victory in a national educational contest called the Ghana TV Cup. PROBLEMS FACED BY THE CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES. And yet this was what earlier missionaries in pagan Europe had done when, for example, they had changed the Sabbath to suit the pagan Sun Day (hence Sunday), and had also adopted the dates of the pagan festivals to celebrate Christmas Day and the Easter festival. In addition to contributing to fluctuating educational standards across the colony, inter-denominational rivalry caused a disparity in access to education. ABWE is also at work in countries that restrict evangelism. Johann Christaller produced a similar work in Twi. At the end of the eighteenth century, the Evangelical Revival began to bring to Africa an influx of missionaries whose laoburs would produce the first fruits of an enduring Christian presence in Sub-Sahara Africa. Alignment is the degree of congruence between your teaching philosophy and your institution's mission. 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. 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. 2018). One method of discouraging traditional practices was to give students a fully Western education. Indeed, most of our early nationalists were all products of mission schools. Following ordination, he was sent to Washington, D.C., and the Catholic University of America, where he earned a masters degree in English literature. Cookies are small, safe and secure text files that sit on your computer which we use to give you a better experience on our site and help us improve the service that we provide to you. They constitute the benefits that the missionaries brought to Africa as a whole. Hope Waddell was later joined by the Rev. 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. 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. ABWE first began work in Ghana with a goal to reach unchurched Ghanaians in the Volta Region with the gospel and then to expand evangelism efforts to other parts of the country. We shall now turn our attention to the activities of the Christian missionaries in Ghana. Now, with the burgeoning Cocoa industry, the expansion of commercial activity, the development of gold mines and the building of roads and railways disturbed the traditional lifestyle. cited in Miran 2002:128). Andrew Jackson Foster (1925-1987) was an American pioneer of deaf education in several countries in Africa. The Basel missionaries arrived on the shores of the Gold Coast in 1828 and The achievement of the purpose of these Christian Missions came with some costs. Frank Ogodo Ogbeche Through hard work and persuasion she succeeded in stopping the practice among the people of killing twins. Included on the website is information about the charitys programs, such as their Leadership Development Program in which participants earn a degree in their chosen field of study, and participate in Christian leadership training, enabling them to become a fully developed agent of change in their nation (Compassion Canada 2011). if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[250,250],'cegastacademy_com-large-mobile-banner-1','ezslot_15',609,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-cegastacademy_com-large-mobile-banner-1-0');The European missionaries began their activities in Ghana as far back as the early fifteenth century. According to the Head of the Methodist Church in Ghana, Mmofraturo was established in Kumasi, 'when it dawned on the early Wesleyan Missionaries that when the girl child was educated, she could grow up to face the challenges of the fast-changing world. The missionary impact on education would have far-reaching consequences, as their creation of a weak basis of education would slow down the political and educational development of many former colonies in Africa. Babalola, E. O. Christianity in West Africa. That missionaries used the vernacular illustrates the fact that missionaries were principally evangelists, and that they considered their other roles, including their role as educators, as less important. As happened in other West African countries, many more mission-sponsored hospitals were founded in the course of the twentieth century. The early success of the missionaries included areas like Freetown and surrounding villages. 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.