contribution of missionaries to education in ghana contribution of missionaries to education in ghana

Disclaimer: This is an example of a student written essay.Click here for sample essays written by our professional writers. The first Europeans arrived at the West-African Coasts at the end of the fifteenth century. Mission Statement 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. In 1827 it grew into Fourah Bay College. He told me that that amount of money could pay for school fees for five students in secondary school in Ghana.. No plagiarism, guaranteed! These included the Basel Missionary Society, founded in Switzerland, and the Breman Mission formed in Germany. In addition, the contributions of celebrity missionaries, such as Christian Schwartz, William Carey, Alexander Duff, and James . The Akim area had about 3400 converts over 32 villages and there were about 900 children distributed in 27 Schools. Soon after secondary schools were opened in other parts of southern Nigeria, including Bonny High School, which was taken over by government in 1904. Mobility depended on the . Earlier in 1846, the Rev. Joseph Dunwell. The CMS began to work in the freed slave villages in Sierra Leone in 1804 and the Methodist in 1811. However, with time, they brought some crops, which they cultivated and which sustained them. 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). The missionaries opened schools further inland, and by 1880, the Wesleyan Mission had eighty -three schools. After earlier unsuccessful attempts by the missionaries Chretien Proten, Henrick Huckuff and Jacobus Capitein, the Anglican, Rev. hbbd```b``vd d"e ] DrI`5 d"(/ Kalu, Ogbu. Bamgboye & Company Press, 1976. The blessings which Christianity has brought to West Africa are many. Early missions conducted by Roman Catholics were short-lived. They need YOU. Among the Christian missionaries that came to the Gold Coast (Ghana) were the following. Frank Ogodo Ogbeche This allowed me to estimate the impact of mission schooling directly. In the Gambia, as happened in other territories, the Christian missionaries did not confine their work to the spread of the Gospel alone. These included the Baptist missionaries who under the American evangelist, Thomas Bowen, started work from Ogbomosho in 1855. Reiterating what teacher education must encapsulate, Adegoke (2003) and Benneh (2006) indi-cated that the mission of Ghana's teacher education is to pro- wassce literature questions. Purchase a license below to view the full collection. Because of rivalry, instead of building one common, multi-denominational school in a village that really only needed the one school, missionaries each built a school for their particular denomination and competed for students (Berman 1974:533). Porter, Andrew. 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 . 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). J. C. Taylor, in these parts of southern Nigeria can still be seen today. Shaw, Mark. Just look at the lyrics of this evangelizing song written in 1819 by Reginald Heber, a prolific English hymnist in the Anglican church. While the Evangelical Presbyterian missionaries were the First to develop literature in Ewe, the Roman Catholics were responsible for Nzima literature. It started first among the Yoruba recaptives who had embraced the Christian faith while in Sierra Leone (freed from slave trading ships by the British Royal Naval Squadron), and who returned home between 1839 and 1845. Brief History. The Essay Writing ExpertsUK Essay Experts. The Methodists founded Mfantsipim (1876) for boys and Wesley Girls High School (1884). Both the academic and vocational forms of education the missions provided served to strengthen the rule of the colonial powers, so that the native inhabitants were second-class citizens in their own land. Among the early Protestant evangelical societies founded in Great Britain were the Baptist Missionary Society, the Church Missionary Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, the Wesleyan Missionary Society and what became known as the Presbyterian Missionary Society of the Church of Scotland. The common response among traditionally polygamous people is well illustrated by a passage in Jomo Kenyattas famous book on the Gikuyu in colonial Kenya: This [the insistence on monogamy] caused a great confusion, for the African could not understand how he could drive away his wives and children, especially in a community where motherhood is looked upon as a religious duty; the children are regarded as part and parcel, not only of the father, but of the whole clan (mbari), and without them the mbari is lost. 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. They had to speak through few interpreters who did not have sufficient education to interpret correctly. document.getElementById("ak_js_1").setAttribute("value",(new Date()).getTime()); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. 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). For this reason, missionaries believed they were doing their students a favour by discouraging traditional practices and promoting Western ones. I wanted to buy a smartphone for him, but when he got to know the price of the cell phone, he humbly declined. ), Father Auguste Moreau and Father Eugene Murat, arrived at Elmina and revived the Roman Catholic Church in Ghana. Success followed the efforts of the pioneer missionaries. African poetry 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. 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). Lewis, Donald M., ed. Further, the missionaries introduced improved methods of farming together with modern farm implements. And thats why I decided to look deeply into this issue. These commercial activities, therefore, made an important contribution to the economic development of Ghana. 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. Your email address will not be published. 26. The Christian missionaries of different missionary societies made a tremendous contribution to education in South Africa. primarily purposed to outline the contributions of religion and education to national development in Ghana. The Christian religion teaches the doctrine of one supreme God and is opposed to the worship of any other forms of deity. quiz Kuhne , his fellow captive and co-author joined him at the mission as a trader in cotton, an activity which was part of, and a means of, financing the mission. 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. Samuel Adu-Gyamfi And Benjamin Kye Ampadu, Ajayi, J..F.A and Michael Crowder History of West Africa. Teacher training colleges in Ghana did not expand as fast as the secondary schools. They also introduced vocational education in the country. A special memorial Mass was celebrated at the Holy Spirit Cathedral in Accra, Ghana, on Oct. 9. The school, which was established the year of independence in 1957, was a work in progress. Box 6000, Techny, IL 60082-6000. In addition to promoting a monogamous lifestyle in their schools, missionaries often insisted on divorces before polygamists or their children could even enrol. In Sierra Leone, the Church Missionary Society (CMS), offshoot of the Anglican Church, was the first to become firmly established chiefly among the freed captive and freed slave settlers from Britain, Nova Scotia and other parts of the New World. Meanwhile, the Scottish missionary, Mary Slessor, had established a reputation in the Cross River area as a nurse. Although Lokoja had a small C.M.S. Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Bremen, Research Center on Inequality and Social Policy (SOCIUM), Universitt Bremen. The Wesleyan and Basel missionaries established schools in Cape Coast, Accra . 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. Longman Nigeria Plc., 1994, Boahen, A.A. et al Tropics in West Africa History. Moreover, speaking through interpreters is a defective means of communicating ones thoughts to ones audience. Establishment of Christian Churches In Sierra Leone. Here you can choose which regional hub you wish to view, providing you with the most relevant information we have for your specific region. 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. 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. The most momentous discovery in western Africa came in 1471, when Portuguese captains first reached the coast of modern Ghana between the mouths of the Ankobra and Volta rivers. Specifically, it addresses the unique role of Christian missions in. Properly meant by Anglo-Saxon standards. These Christian converts considered themselves to be holier than their traditional rulers and elders. It is possible to hear the tune of this missionary hymn. 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. Soon after the Methodist experiment, the church Missionary Society set up their own school at Badagry. For example, they made our people view polygamy and puberty rites as pagan practices. In 1910, a prominent report of the World Missionary Conference concluded: [T]here can be no question of polygamy. For three years, he taught English and biblical ethics. Hildebrandt, Jonathan. Etherington, Norman. In 1858 the Rev. From simple essay plans, through to full dissertations, you can guarantee we have a service perfectly matched to your needs. 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. 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. One method of discouraging traditional practices was to give students a fully Western education. In this chapter, we shall examine how Christianity and Western-style education influenced West Africans values, attitudes and life-styles. The Christian missionaries have been credited with the discontinuation of some obnoxious traditional practices among Ghanaians. church were founded in south-eastern Nigeria, the chief centres being Bonny and Brass. In 1859, the first newspaper in Yoruba, called the Iwe-Irohim, was published by the missionaries. Another important Catholic missionary in this area was the Irishman, Bishop Shanahan. This was around the same time that the first Portuguese sailors arrived on the coast of Ghana. Already have a license? 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. The Rev. She succeeded in stopping the killing of twins in the areas where she served. Ekechi, Felix K. Colonialism and Christianity in West Africa: The Igbo Case, 19001915. The Journal of African History 12, no. Many missionaries died because of the climate and tropical disease. 1931. Rather, it denationalized and facilitated the indignity and loss of cultural identity of the Ghanaian. In traditionally monogamous societies, primary school completion increased by about eight percent, but only four percent in polygamous societies. Christianity in northern Nigeria. Preventive medicine was hardly known; the result was that epidemics of different kinds were frequent. 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. 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. The early success of the missionaries included areas like Freetown and surrounding villages. Our academic experts are ready and waiting to assist with any writing project you may have. Ralph teaches English for Academic Purposes (EAP) online. In addition, while missionaries did run many academic primary schools, they provided little secondary education, a practice which prevented natives from becoming too educated (Ayandele 1966:286) and potentially subversive. Following agitation by the people in 1934, the government opened the old Yaba Higher College and Medical School, which awarded diplomas acceptable only locally. 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). endstream endobj startxref Sign in to view the collection. Some of these new crops were grapes coffee, mango, ginger, and olives. Similar organizations were formed in several other European countries. homework help 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. Their economic activities went beyond the development of agriculture. The lead was followed by other missionaries, notably the Roman Catholic, whose first higher institution was St Edwards Secondary School in Freetown. And yet the Asafo provided most of the services which a community needed: protection against military attacks, communal services, etc. In an ironic twist, the more Africans became versed in the Bible, the more they began to challenge missionaries. They were followed in turn by the Methodists and the Roman Catholics. It is important to emphasize that the modern history of the Christian Mission in Africa started from the late Eighteenth Century, the Catholics had been there earlier in the first centuries of the Christian era especially during the first Portuguese adventures. The Methodists founded the Boys High School in 1874, and another high school for girls six years later. ABWE is also at work in countries that restrict evangelism. Similar developments were carried out by the missionaries in other Nigerian languages, Efik, Kanuri, Igbo, etc. The Church had its strongest hold in the Senegambia area. In fact, the Christian missionaries encouraged Ghanaians to reject African names and choose Christian names instead. 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 The early Christian missions concentrated their activities not only on religious matters. Looking for a flexible role? Its general scope extends to both Roman Catholic as well as Protestant missionaries in relation to education works. 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. They were to spread the message of the Gospel, render social services to the people and to assist in the suppression of slavery and the slave trade. Their luggage and other necessities had to be carried on heads and took a long time before reaching the missionaries. They impressed it upon their converts not to have anything to do with these traditional practices. The missionaries believed that in order to stabilize the faith of converts and to assist in character development, it was necessary that they should be able to read the scriptures or other books of religious instruction, translated by the missions. Henry Townsend who went from Sierra Leone to Badagry in 1842 in his company was the Rev Ajayi Crowther. Besides education, they cared for the sick. 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. 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. Soon after the start of elementary schools, the missionaries started opening higher institutions also. 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! Debrunner, Hans Werner. We were expected to accept the European language as the superior one, and this was reinforced throughout my school career (Abu cited in Berman 1974:536). These trends occasionally brought kings into conflict with the missionaries and their converts. Notably among these missionaries are the Wesleyan, Basel, and Bremen. In the field of education, however, the missionaries had to adjust their programmes to fit in with the policy of assimilation. I well remember when he came to live with me in Trenton. But the funds and other needed materials even when available could not reach their station in time. Foremost in the contribution of the early Christian missionaries to the development of Ghana is their efforts to bring Western education to Ghanaians. That there are parallels between contemporary Christian organizations efforts and the missionary efforts of the mid-nineteenth to mid- twentieth centuries is a reason for concern, considering the similar impact of missionaries of all Christian denominations on the education of Africans in the British and Italian colonies in Africa. Mission societies often expanded into territories before colonial powers did, and providing education only cost them a little more. Given the fluctuating standards between schools and regions and the lack of qualified teachers in the mission schools which had monopolies in well into the mid-twentieth century, it should come as little surprise that the quality of education continues to be a concern in many former colonies. They did a lot to impact the social and economic lives of Africans. non-slave trade), Christianity, Civilization and Colonization.