contribution of missionaries to education in ghana

A large percentage of Ghanas 30 million people are nominally Christian (more than 70% as of the last census), and 28% consider themselves evangelical believers. In addition, the contributions of celebrity missionaries, such as Christian Schwartz, William Carey, Alexander Duff, and James . Wed love to get to know you and discuss how God is calling you. These trends occasionally brought kings into conflict with the missionaries and their converts. Missionaries travelled through dense evergreen forests, crossed rivers and climbed mountains to bring the Gospel to as many Ghanaians as they could. In many instances, they made their converts rebel against traditional rulers and other spiritual leaders. 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 problems created by the white missionaries themselves arose largely from a misconception of what Africa represented. They even considered traditional drumming and African clothing as practices that were not worthy in the sight of the Lord. His funeral Mass was Sept. 27, followed by burial at St. Mary Cemetery at Techny. Roman Catholic and Anglican missionaries came to the Gold Coast from the 15th century. Other Roman Catholic hospitals were built in all the nine regions of the country; including those at Asikuma and Foso (Central Region), Akyem Swedru (Eastern Region), Berekum (BrongAhafo), Maase (Asante Region) and Anfoega (Volta Region). Isichei, Elizabeth. 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. There were only bush paths, and no roads in the early times. Prior to the advent of western education, Ghana's traditional social structures had inbuilt opportunities for mobility. Theres still so much to be learned from the history of education in Africa and its long-term consequences. A second reason for the poor education of the mission schools was that in many cases the teachers in mission schools were unqualified as teachers, but were instead preachers by training. A permanent station was established in Lagos in 1868, soon followed by others at Lokoja, Abeokuta and Ibadan. We must not lose sight of the fact that the colonial government in Ghana and elsewhere in Africa relied on the activities of the missionaries to help them achieve the objectives of colonial rule. In short, it was a very successful mission in making us little black Anglo-Saxon Protestants. Listen as we explore missions, theology, and practice to help senders and goers alike. The study examines the historical foundations of Western education in Meru and factors that influenced its development. The Journal of Negro Education (JNE), a refereed scholarly periodical, was founded at Howard University in 1932 to fill the need for a scholarly journal that would identify and define the problems that characterized the education of Black people in the United States and elsewhere, provide a forum for analysis and solutions, and serve as a vehicle for sharing statistics and research on a national basis. While colonial administration in colonies such as Kenya attempted to some degree to provide training for Kenyans to fill the high-level positions (Sheffield 1973:86), the attempts in many cases fell short, and when the European administration left, Kenya, for instance, had few sufficiently educated replacements (Sheffield 1973:88). C.M.S. New team members can be part of establishing a biblical foundation for the next generation of believers, the growth of nationally-led churches, and church planting in Ghana. He moved to Techny in 2016. Sign in to view the collection. Following agitation by the people in 1934, the government opened the old Yaba Higher College and Medical School, which awarded diplomas acceptable only locally. Perhaps the greatest service of the missionaries was the promotion of western education and the development of vernacular literature. Series CLR. The Wesleyan and Basel missionaries established schools in Cape Coast, Accra . ABWE is also at work in countries that restrict evangelism. 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. For instance, in the Salisbury region of Rhodesia, it was reported in 1924 that no male teachers had educational qualifications (Bone 1969:28). 26. missionaries was the development of literature in Yoruba. While it has brought undoubted benefits, it has also harmed the traditional way of life. 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. 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 was because all the ships that came to the coast at that time were owned by trading firms and companies whose interest were basically on trade. mock tests The Basel Mission, as a result of this phenomenal expansion trained many local personnel to man the new stations. Third, rivalry between the various Christian denominations also contributed to the poor standards of education. famous poems The First Missionaries were sent as a result of a request by Major de Richelieu, Governor of Christiansborg. For example, the missionaries preached against certain aspects of African culture they considered barbaric or satanic or both. Request Permissions. Before we examine the contribution of Christian missionaries in Ghana, we need to identify the missionaries that came to Ghana. 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 [] Hope Waddell started pioneering work, in 1846, in Calabar. 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. African Drama For instance, on 2nd October 1792, the Baptist Missionary Society was formed followed by the interdenominational London Missionary Society which was established in 1795. As happened in Ghana, the development of training colleges in Nigeria was slower than secondary schools, though the C. M. S. had opened the first training college at Abeokuta as far back as 1849. For instance the scholar E.A. The early African converts to Christianity, were made to abandon their ancestral culture and way of life as pagan therefore to be shunned. 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 Website design and development by Americaneagle.com, Inc, Society of the Divine Word- Western Province, Society of the Divine Word- Southern Province. Finally, education affects many other aspects of peoples lives, including economic opportunities and political attitudes. %PDF-1.7 % Mission societies often expanded into territories before colonial powers did, and providing education only cost them a little more. The Portuguese were the first to introduce the Christian faith into West Africa but following their departure from the West Coast in the mid-seventeenth century, the Christian religion survived only in Upper Guinea where a bishop was maintained in the Cape Verde Islands serving also a part of the mainland. The colonial Eritrean government ensured that native Eritreans received poor education by permitting them to only attend school up to the fourth grade (Miran 2002:127). Christianity in northern Nigeria. English grammar The effects of work done by Bishop Ajayi Crowther, assisted by the Igbo recaptive the Rev. Missionaries and the intellectual history of Africa: a historical survey. Itinerario 7, no. These Christian converts considered themselves to be holier than their traditional rulers and elders. 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. The weakening of traditional societies was not simply a consequence of the efforts of missionaries but one of their main objectives, stemming from their belief in the civilizing mission. Supporters of the civilizing mission believed that European colonial enterprises were justified as the Europeans were imparting their superior Western culture and ideas to the ignorant heathens of Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australasia. Meanwhile, the Scottish missionary, Mary Slessor, had established a reputation in the Cross River area as a nurse. All the three secondary schools in Cape Coast were mission institutions. It was not until 1909 that the government opened a teacher training college and a technical school in Accra. Thus, despite what the images of suffering African children on websites such as that of Compassion Canada might lead one to believe, it is time for Africans to educate their own, without any interference. 522 0 obj <>stream Missionaries were no doubt also aware that Africans came to associate European technological achievement with Western education (Bassey 1991:45) and therefore offered Western education as a means to attract Africans of this belief and then convert them. 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. This hymn sums up the reasons why the Christian missionaries came to Africa and other parts of the world. Important among these, all in Lagos, were the Baptist Academy in 1855, the C.M.S. The copies of letters received, 1890-1927, mention the plan from 1914 to gain control of future Ashanti Chiefs using education. Some earlier scholarship on mission education has taken this as a positive impact of the missionaries. For instance, the Basel Mission established Basel Mission Trading Company (UTC) in 1859. 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. . Some progressive Europeans, like the first principal of Achimota College, Rev. Up to Guggisbergs time, the church schools did not receive grants from the government. This single problem made the missionary work very difficult. Its general scope extends to both Roman Catholic as well as Protestant missionaries in relation to education works. The lead was followed by other missionaries, notably the Roman Catholic, whose first higher institution was St Edwards Secondary School in Freetown. 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. In spite of the division, the parent Methodist missionary church played an important role in the history of Christianity in Sierra Leone. A history of Christianity in Africa: From antiquity to the present. WAEC Under the Basel Missions Salem system, converts were separated from the traditional society. As an institution introduced by agents with radically different values, the Christian religion damaged the culture and traditional beliefs of the people of West Africa. Thus missionaries, by imparting education that promoted dependence on colonial rule, arguably contributed to the political instability that continues in the present day in many former African colonies, such as Kenya and Eritrea. 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. A notable example was the Asafo Company, a purely military and social organisation of the peoples of Ghana, which was condemned by the early missionaries because of its presumed connection with fetish practices. James Fieldhouse, produced a Wolof Grammar in 1876. This study simply offers systematic, long-term evidence of it. 2006 - 2023 Microform Academic Publishers | Microform Academic Publishers is a division of Microform Imaging Limited (Company registered in England no. He professed vows in 1953 in Conesus, N.Y., and was ordained to the priesthood in 1961 at Techny, Ill. Among his pioneering achievements, he arranged for three youths to be sent to England for training as evangelists. The Methodists, known as the Wesleyan Missionaries (after their founder), arrived in Freetown in 1811. Over time and with the dedication of teachers like Father Burke, the school rose to prominence. Hope Waddell was later joined by the Rev. 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. 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. For that matter, they rebelled against their chiefs and elders. An Alumnus of the University of Cape Coast in Ghana, a Journalist, Author and a Philanthropist. 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. 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). But that increase was greater in monogamous societies. Unlike the Portuguese, the French colonial officials encouraged the Christian missionaries in the promotion of formal education and social services, notably health. The European Christian missions preached the Gospel, built churches, and seminaries translated the Bible to Ghanaian Languages such as Ewe, Ga, and Twi. First, alignment can help you communicate your . 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). Furthermore, missionaries, believing in the civilizing mission, attempted to disintegrate traditional society through education by choosing academic subjects, such as the histories of the Western colonial powers, that illustrated the superiority of the Western culture, as well as by teaching about the superiority of the West in non-academic matters such as hygiene. Support earthquake relief and outreach efforts, biblical foundation for the next generation of believers. Some of the missionaries came with them (549 years ago) but many died from the cruel tropical weather of forested West Africa. For instance, in southern Nigeria, the CMS policy was to teach in the vernacular at the primary level, while the Roman Catholic Missions policy was to teach in English (Bassey 1991:42). Thus as early as 1823, the Roman Catholic Sisters started a clinic for the sick and for children in Banjul. For instance, in Nigeria in 2006, approximately only 51.2% of primary school teachers of either gender were trained as teachers, and the enrolment rate in primary education for both genders in 2000 stood at about 62.7%, compared to 99.5% in Canada (UN Data 2010). The first batch, who came out between 1804 and 1806, included pioneer missionaries like Renner and Nylander. Consequently, they couldnt do much to promote the cultivation of food crops like maize, cassava, cocoyam and plantain. Soon after the Methodist experiment, the church Missionary Society set up their own school at Badagry. The first Europeans arrived at the West-African Coasts at the end of the fifteenth century. 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 . How to Get Involved in Church Missions: The Ultimate Guide, 16 Causes of Crime Essay (with Solutions), Justify the Title of the Novel Second Class Citizen, The Role of Ghana in the Formation of the OAU, Economic Developments in Ghana Before Independence, 11 Causes of the Rise of Nationalism in Africa, Importance of the Odwira Festival in Ghana. past questions 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. The original letters from abroad cover West Africa from 1899 to 1933. He knew me as a boy [in Ghana] who washed his car and went with him when he said Mass at mission stations, yet [as an adult] he treated me as an equal, Father Tetteh said. Their greatest legacy in the field of education was the foundation which the Methodist laid for what is today the Gambia High school. Here you can choose which regional hub you wish to view, providing you with the most relevant information we have for your specific region. The contents of this tutorial will serve as a guide for a suitable essay on the below WAEC/WASSCE History past question. The study traces the his tory of colonial education and the tremendous contributions of missionaries in the establishment of formal education in the region. Ralph teaches English for Academic Purposes (EAP) online. A.G. Frazer, did much to encourage the promotion of indigenous culture, but by and large the colonial authorities contributed to dwindling a good deal of our cultural heritage. Mobility depended on the . In addition to promoting a monogamous lifestyle in their schools, missionaries often insisted on divorces before polygamists or their children could even enrol. To put it differently, the motive was to gain acceptance in the sight of God so that after death they would be judged kindly by the heavenly father. In fact, the Christian missionaries encouraged Ghanaians to reject African names and choose Christian names instead. Thank you! His work, however, did not extend much beyond Cape Coast and the neighbouring area. It would be wrong, however, to blame all these ills on the Christian missionaries alone. 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. These included the Basel Missionary Society, founded in Switzerland, and the Breman Mission formed in Germany. Their records from World War One show their distance from the war and yet that it did affect their decisions. 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. 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. 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. In an ironic twist, the more Africans became versed in the Bible, the more they began to challenge missionaries. Debate Speech: Religion Has Failed Society, A Speech Outlining the Achievements and Problems of Your School, 7 Factors Accounting for the Shortage of Capital In West Africa, The Resurrection of Jesus According to Marks Gospel. The reservation of high-level positions in the colonial administrations for Europeans and the corresponding mission education that provided education fit only for lower positions meant that the withdrawal of European rule could cause serious political instability in the newly independent colonies. Another difficulty that the early missionaries faced in the spread of Christianity was insufficient Christian literature at that time. Among his pioneering achievements, he arranged for three youths to be sent to England for training as evangelists. The story of the planting of Christianity in Nigeria would be incomplete without a mention of the Italian Roman Catholic priest, Father Berghero. The Basel missionaries, in particular, established experimental farms and plantations in places like Akropong. Lewis, Donald M., ed. 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. Andreas Riis, assisted by a team of West Indian evangelists, laid the foundations of the Basel Missionary Church in the country. Johannes Zimmermann wrote a grammar of the Ga language, and in 1874 the Rev. 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. 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. 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 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.

Bones Found In Abandoned House Cheshire, Anthony D'amico Chicago, Fake Pastors In Ghana, Riva Boat Tour Lake Como, St George Parade Of Homes Virtual Tour, Articles C