This chapter traces the origins and long-term development of African mass education in colonial sub-Saharan Africa. 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. opened was the Christian Institute, established in 1814 for the training of teachers, catechists and priests. The European Christian missions preached the Gospel, built churches, and seminaries translated the Bible to Ghanaian Languages such as Ewe, Ga, and Twi. The Rev. Father Burke was preceded in death by his parents and his brother John. The activities of the early Christian missionaries negatively affected the development of African traditional political institutions. As Sir Henry Johnston, a key figure in the Scramble for Africa says, they [the mission stations] strengthen our hold over the country, they spread the use of the English language, they induct natives into the best kind of civilization, and in fact, each mission station is an essay in colonization (Johnston cited in Sheffield 1973:10). Then share it on your favourite social media platform for the benefit of others you care about. Shaw, Mark. Longman Group Ltd. London and Basingstoke, 1986, Fage, J.D. The early missionaries set up craft centres as part of their educational programmes. 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. Other missionaries opened mission stations in the country. Isichei, Elizabeth. House, 1967. This hymn sums up the reasons why the Christian missionaries came to Africa and other parts of the world. The First Missionaries were sent as a result of a request by Major de Richelieu, Governor of Christiansborg. 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. 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). senior high school history The education provided in schools in early days also tended to place great emphasis on the superiority of western culture. Porter, Andrew. The Christian Connector Scholarship. 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. I will earn a commission if you follow a link to purchase a product. CONTRIBUTION OF CHRISTIANITY TO WEST AFRICA. %%EOF The lead was followed by other missionaries, notably the Roman Catholic, whose first higher institution was St Edwards Secondary School in Freetown. The Christian religion teaches the doctrine of one supreme God and is opposed to the worship of any other forms of deity. Christian Missionaries. Besides, the missionaries had to travel longer distances to inland towns from their southern stations. In short, it was a very successful mission in making us little black Anglo-Saxon Protestants. After earlier unsuccessful attempts by the missionaries Chretien Proten, Henrick Huckuff and Jacobus Capitein, the Anglican, Rev. The churches opened primary schools both in the capital and in the rural communities. Thus, because of the motive of proselytization, unqualified teachers, and inter-denominational rivalry, missions frequently provided poor education. Preventive medicine was hardly known; the result was that epidemics of different kinds were frequent. This thesis discusses and assesses contribution of Christian Missionaries to education in Meru from 1908 to 1963. 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. The resulting atmosphere of disunity enabled the European colonialists to easily achieve their goal of economic exploitation. Their greatest legacy in the field of education was the foundation which the Methodist laid for what is today the Gambia High school. In traditionally monogamous societies, primary school completion increased by about eight percent, but only four percent in polygamous societies. 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 . Thomas Birch Freeman, son of a London-based West Indian father and an English mother. 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. 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. Hildebrandt, Jonathan. The blessings which Christianity has brought to West Africa are many. Specifically, it addresses the unique role of Christian missions in. The people received the message with indifference. The Basel missionaries arrived on the shores of the Gold Coast in 1828 and Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of UKEssays.com. History books tended to exaggerate in achievements of Europeans, making no reference to Africans own great past. For several years they paid attention to slave trade rather than evangelization and Christianization of the people of West-Africa. 1 (1971): 103-115. They often attributed natural ailments to supernatural causes and resorted to mystic cults to appease the unknown spirit, before applying medicine to the sick person. The first school in Nigeria was started by the Methodist missionaries at Badagry in 1842. Contribution of the Methodist Church to education in Ghana 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 missionaries also greatly improved the health services. Christianity in northern Nigeria. It was difficult for the European missionaries to communicate freely with the local people. Besides education, they cared for the sick. Frank Ogodo Ogbeche Ghana Missionaries | Learn about Christian missions efforts in Ghana - ABWE About the same time, the Church of Scotland (Presbyterian) headed by the Rev. Alignment is the degree of congruence between your teaching philosophy and your institution's mission. Not only did mission education strengthen colonial rule, but it also weakened traditional societies and implemented poor standards of Western education. In the later 19th century, the immense African interior remained the principal object of the Catholic Priests, and from 1867 until his death in November 1892 Cardinal Lavigerie planned the planting of churches in Africa South of the Sahara. 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. It happens that some people convert at the end of their life in order to be buried in the prestigious Presbyterian cemetery. Earlier in 1846, the Rev. senior high school government Again, the missionaries helped to pacify Africans while their rich natural resources were being plundered by the colonial government. Cultural deprivation is what many of us suffer from []. Soon after, in 1835 they moved up to Akropon on the hills in Akuapem, where the pioneer missionary the Rev. This comes at no extra cost to you. The story of the planting of Christianity in Nigeria would be incomplete without a mention of the Italian Roman Catholic priest, Father Berghero. She succeeded in stopping the killing of twins in the areas where she served. This is the famous Presbyterian Teacher Training College founded in 1848 at Akropong-Akwapim. Called the Iwe-Irohim, was published by the missionaries. The Methodists founded Mfantsipim (1876) for boys and Wesley Girls High School (1884). The South African War is not covered in this grouping of letters. For three years, he taught English and biblical ethics. Apart from the extreme south and the Horn, the interior was hardly touched by Europeans before the last quarter of the Nineteenth Century. Kalu, Ogbu. Arnold, 1986. The others include the French trading posts at Grand Bassam (Ivory Coast), Assinie and Libreville in Gabon. Moreover, speaking through interpreters is a defective means of communicating ones thoughts to ones audience. Kalu, Ogbu. Some of the positive development outcomes of former British colonies are arguably the result of a permissive attitude towards mission schools. Establishment of Christian Churches In Nigeria. West African Senior School Certificate Examination. 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. However hypocritical, government support for the schools should not be surprising, considering the benefits the colonial governments stood to gain. The first batch, who came out between 1804 and 1806, included pioneer missionaries like Renner and Nylander. . Following ordination, he was sent to Washington, D.C., and the Catholic University of America, where he earned a masters degree in English literature. History The school, which was established the year of independence in 1957, was a work in progress. Two important private schools with strong Christian influence must also be mentioned: Accra High School, founded in 1923 and Accra Academy, established in They therefore set about to achieve this through introduction of formal education among the Batswana people. In short, the impact of teaching in the vernacular was more negative than positive, as it reinforced colonial rule and no doubt did very little to preserve native cultural identities, seeing as missionaries promoted European languages as superior and only used the vernacular because conversion and religious instruction were such high priorities. Let's look in-depth into these scholarships. bible knowledge Government & Politics English Grammar School for Boys in 1859, St Gregorys College opened by the Catholics in 1876, Methodist Boys High School 1878 and Methodist Girls High School 1879. They relied very much on their home churches for their funds. The kingdom of God in Africa: A short history of African Christianity. 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. 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. Missionaries and the intellectual history of Africa: a historical survey. Itinerario 7, no. 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. others adopted a system of education varied from one and the other hence, lacking consistency in the educational sector [3]. 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. 4; img 109. Young Vincent began his studies with the Society of the Divine Word at Divine Word Seminary at Miramar in Massachusetts in 1947. 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). The last two decades have witnessed the emergence of privately owned higher education institutions in Nigeria, including those owned by religious bodies and even by their individual members. Johannes Zimmermann wrote a grammar of the Ga language, and in 1874 the Rev. All rights reserved. It is one of the oldest continuously published periodicals by and about Black people. So why did the European missionaries come to Ghana and other parts of Africa? hbbd```b``vd d"e ] DrI`5 d"(/ Please read our privacy policy to find out more. Mr. Henry Kwadwo Amoako is a Ghanaian Social Scientist, Researcher and Acclaimed Historian for over two decades. Some progressive Europeans, like the first principal of Achimota College, Rev. ASSESS THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE CHRISTIAN MISSION TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF GHANA. Ghana continued to call. It is possible to hear the tune of this missionary hymn. An Alumnus of the University of Cape Coast in Ghana, a Journalist, Author and a Philanthropist. I have used my expertise to design and implement strategies for major projects including new programme development, global proposals, book launches, international talks, lectures, and executive . 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. Contribution of the Methodist Church to education in Ghana 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. 2236624), The beginning of Africanisation : the dawn of the missionary motive in Gold Coast education, Early colonial and missionary records from West Africa, West Indies material in the archives of the USPG, 1710-1950. The constant tensions between traditionalists and Christian converts often erupted into all-out conflicts. The Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist and Anglican missions all made a major contribution to education in Ghana and Africa as a whole. For more than a year, Ghanaian Saints continued to practice their faith in their homes. Initially, a majority of the missionary journeys was done with English-Speaking Protestants and later, in the 1820s and 1830s, they were joined by continental Protestantism from Germany, Switzerland and France. While living at the Divine Word Residence in Bordentown, N.J., he often visited parishes and schools to talk about missionary work. After World War I was declared in 1914, the German missionaries were restricted in their movements by the British in the British colonies. The academic education purposely did not train Africans for the higher level positions of colonial administrations, which were mostly reserved for Europeans (Ayandele 1966:295; Sheffield 1973:42), a practise which created dependency on the colonizers, as without them the colony did not have qualified administrators. primarily purposed to outline the contributions of religion and education to national development in Ghana. This conditioning was focused on norms that missionaries deemed incompatible with a Christian way of life. Next, branches of the C.M.S. 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). Barely ten years later, after the first missionaries arrived, the Methodists, for example, had started a station as far inland as MacCarthy Island. There were several reasons for this poor education, some intentional and some not. 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. In fact in 1966, Father Burke led students to a victory in a national educational contest called the Ghana TV Cup. One reason why the Christian missionaries came to Ghana and the rest of Africa was to convert the people to the Christian faith. English comprehension In the case of Ghana, like other nations, the impact . Find below a list of mission schools that still exist in Ghana today. 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. Therefore the period for the rise of Christianizing Missions in the late Nineteenth Century has been considered as reprise. Operational Christianity started 267 Years ago. Under the Basel Missions Salem system, converts were separated from the traditional society. He was followed, three years afterwards, by the Rev. In 1858 the Rev. He also blogs at BloggingtotheMax.com. *You can also browse our support articles here >. Secondary Schools in the Protectorate started later, following the establishment of Bo Government Secondary School in 1906. The pastors of the Church Missionary Society, from Badagry and later from Sierra Leone, visited these Christian communities in Abeokuta and other towns. One of the missions most important contributions to the colonial regimes was their role in educating the native Africans. All work is written to order. J. G. Christaller produced a Twi Grammar and Dictionary. There were only bush paths, and no roads in the early times. Listen as we explore missions, theology, and practice to help senders and goers alike.