contribution of missionaries to education in ghana11 Mar contribution of missionaries to education in ghana
others adopted a system of education varied from one and the other hence, lacking consistency in the educational sector [3]. After more than 20 years at Pope John XXIII School, he returned to the United States and served as parochial vicar at Blessed Sacrament-Our Lady of the Divine Shepherd in Trenton, N.J., where he lived with Father Tetteh. Christianity reborn: the global expansion of evangelicalism in the twentieth century. ), Father Auguste Moreau and Father Eugene Murat, arrived at Elmina and revived the Roman Catholic Church in Ghana. There were several reasons for this poor education, some intentional and some not. Government & Politics (with Examples), Top 20 Topics in English for Academic Purposes, 7 Rules of Referencing and Citation in Academic Writing, 10 Importance of Referencing and Citation in Academic Writing, How to Get a Degree Without Going to High School, Joseph Rhodes Dunwell Methodist Missionary, 1835, Thomas Birch Freeman Methodist Missionary, 1838, Thomas Thompson Society for the Propagation of the Gospel/Anglican, 1752, Wesley Girls High School, Cape Coast Methodist missionaries, Mfantsipim School, Cape Coast Methodist, Adisadel College, Cape Coast Anglican Missionaries, Holy Child School, Cape Coast Roman Catholic, St Augustines College, Cape Coast Roman Catholic, Archbishop Potter Girls School, Takoradi, Aburi Girls Secondary School Presbyterian, St Monicas High School, Mampong Anglican. church were founded in south-eastern Nigeria, the chief centres being Bonny and Brass. She succeeded in stopping the killing of twins in the areas where she served. His work, however, did not extend much beyond Cape Coast and the neighbouring area. quiz In 2006, Father Burke was appointed lecturer at the newly founded Catholic University College of Ghana in Sunyani. After a time the idea becomes ingrained -it is heathen and unchristian to be an African culturally (Awori cited in Berman 1974:536). During the first half of the 19th century they targeted healthier places, with relatively lower malaria-risk, where European missionaries could survive and train local African missionaries and teachers (Jedwab et al. Other missionaries opened mission stations in the country. Their converts, for many years, were confined to the people of southern Nigerian extraction resident in the north, and to the-large non-Muslim population of the north. 522 0 obj <>stream The lead was followed by other missionaries, notably the Roman Catholic, whose first higher institution was St Edwards Secondary School in Freetown. This thesis discusses and assesses contribution of Christian Missionaries to education in Meru from 1908 to 1963. However hypocritical, government support for the schools should not be surprising, considering the benefits the colonial governments stood to gain. Shaw, Mark. 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. 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 early success of the missionaries included areas like Freetown and surrounding villages. Of the ten largest congregations for men, the Society of the Divine Word is the fastest growing over the past 50 years. The missionaries seemed to have concentrated much of their effort on the production of export crops. 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. Brief History. Buchi Emecheta endstream endobj 504 0 obj <>>>/Lang(en)/MarkInfo<>/Metadata 55 0 R/Outlines 135 0 R/Pages 498 0 R/StructTreeRoot 142 0 R/Type/Catalog/ViewerPreferences<>>> endobj 505 0 obj <>/MediaBox[0 0 612 792]/Parent 499 0 R/Resources<>/Font<>/ProcSet[/PDF/Text/ImageC]/XObject<>>>/Rotate 0/StructParents 0/Tabs/S/Type/Page>> endobj 506 0 obj <>stream 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. In Sierra Leone, among the earliest higher institutions which the C.M.S. 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. Father Burke was preceded in death by his parents and his brother John. Another important missionary doctor was J. R. Stephen who for many years headed a missionary hospital at Ilesha. The constant tensions between traditionalists and Christian converts often erupted into all-out conflicts. opened was the Christian Institute, established in 1814 for the training of teachers, catechists and priests. This is the famous Presbyterian Teacher Training College founded in 1848 at Akropong-Akwapim. The Methodists founded Mfantsipim (1876) for boys and Wesley Girls High School (1884). *You can also browse our support articles here >. Their personal and family choices influenced the expansion speed of missionary education. 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). The European missionaries engaged in trading and other commercial activities as well. This comes at no extra cost to you. His work, however, did not extend much beyond Cape Coast and the neighbouring area. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1995. This single problem made the missionary work very difficult. Finally, education affects many other aspects of peoples lives, including economic opportunities and political attitudes. For example, they made our people view polygamy and puberty rites as pagan practices. Although Lokoja had a small C.M.S. In 1859, the first newspaper in Yoruba, called the Iwe-Irohim, was published by the missionaries. 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. The Missionary Factor in Ghana's Development, pp.11 &135 categorically asserted that economic and social changes were brought about by the total effect of the various projects initiated by the. Ekechi, Felix K. Colonialism and Christianity in West Africa: The Igbo Case, 19001915. The Journal of African History 12, no. Besides education, they cared for the sick. 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. Joseph Dunwell. 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. All rights reserved. The CMS began to work in the freed slave villages in Sierra Leone in 1804 and the Methodist in 1811. 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 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. 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. There were only bush paths, and no roads in the early times. The high temperatures coupled with high rainfall patterns in some parts of the country experienced during the daytime, made the missionaries stay indoors, which slowed down their activities. The foreign exchange earnings helped to develop Ghanas infrastructure. The resulting atmosphere of disunity enabled the European colonialists to easily achieve their goal of economic exploitation. Important among these, all in Lagos, were the Baptist Academy in 1855, the C.M.S. Prominent among the early Christian missionaries to come to the Gold Coast (Ghana) were the Roman Catholic, Methodist, Basel, Bremen and Anglican missions. Vol. However, attending mission schools also meant exposure to colonial indoctrination. 0 He professed vows in 1953 in Conesus, N.Y., and was ordained to the priesthood in 1961 at Techny, Ill. People all around the world are searching for hope, but many dont have someone to tell them about the hope found in Jesus. 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. Thank you for supporting this project. Moreover, it was not in the colonial powers interest for the natives to become too educated, as they might become self-reliant and could conceivably demand independence from the colonial power, so encouraging the less intellectual agricultural schools was in the governments interest. 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). The Christian missionaries of different missionary societies made a tremendous contribution to education in South Africa. "Big things have small beginnings"; so is The Presbyterian Church of Ghana. Thank you! Another negative impact of mission education was that it weakened traditional societies, which in many ways further served the colonial cause. The missionaries also greatly improved the health services. African poetry Missionaries and the intellectual history of Africa: a historical survey. Itinerario 7, no. DISCLOSURE. They did a lot to impact the social and economic lives of Africans. Longman Group Ltd. London and Basingstoke, 1986, Fage, J.D. For the West Africans, the acceptance of Christianity meant the total rejection of most of the cherished institutions upon which their society rested. EVANGELICAL MOVEMENTS AND MISSIONARY SOCIETIES IN THE ENGLISH COLONIES. 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. Soon after secondary schools were opened in other parts of southern Nigeria, including Bonny High School, which was taken over by government in 1904. After World War I was declared in 1914, the German missionaries were restricted in their movements by the British in the British colonies. The early European Christian missionaries in West Africa experienced a number of difficulties, some arising from factors outside their control and others of their own making. Young Vincent began his studies with the Society of the Divine Word at Divine Word Seminary at Miramar in Massachusetts in 1947. For instance, the Basel Mission established the first teacher training college in Ghana. Copyright 2023 ABWE. Email: henrydonsco@gmail.com For more than a year, Ghanaian Saints continued to practice their faith in their homes. ASSESS THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE CHRISTIAN MISSION TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF GHANA. 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). Wm. In many instances, they made their converts rebel against traditional rulers and other spiritual leaders. Following ordination, he was sent to Washington, D.C., and the Catholic University of America, where he earned a masters degree in English literature. We use cookies to improve your experience on our website. His viewing and wake service took place on Sept. 26 at the chapel in the Divine Word Residence at Techny. With the support of the Propagation of the Faith within the Vatican, whose Cardinal Secretary became Pope Gregory XVI, various Roman Catholic missionary societies were founded. 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. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. As a predominantly Roman Catholic country, France encouraged Roman Catholic missionaries right from the start of her colonial activities in West Africa. Properly meant by Anglo-Saxon standards. The city of Akuropong capital of the Akan state of Akuapem in Ghana, has known the Christian presence during the last 186 years, initially centered on the Basel Mission, then on the Free Church of Scotland, and now on the Presbyterian Church of Ghana. Ghana sits on West Africas coastline along the Gulf of Guinea, bordered by the Ivory Coast and Togo to the west and east and Burkina Faso to the north. 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. Christian missions also took a leading role in the campaign to end the slave trade and to suppress slavery. Mission societies often expanded into territories before colonial powers did, and providing education only cost them a little more. 26. 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. ), Father Auguste Moreau and Father Eugene Murat, arrived at Elmina and revived the Roman Catholic Church in Ghana. Public money was spent only on the small number of government schools, totaling nineteen when Governor Guggisberg assumed office in 1919. However, the discovery of quinine and other curative medicines in the late 19th century made the history of the missionary work in West Africa a different thing altogether. 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. 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. Despite their significant contributions to education, local language development, agriculture and the economy as a whole, the missionaries have been criticized severally. 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. Father Vincent Burke SVD, 83, recipient of Ghanas Officer of the Order of Volta Award, passed away at Techny, Ill., on Sept. 21. Being ignorant of ones history causes one to lose part of ones identity and pride in that identity, and one is therefore more vulnerable to attacks denouncing ones culture as inferior, especially if at the same time one is being taught the noble history of another culture. 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 original letters from abroad cover West Africa from 1899 to 1933. However, accustomed to monogamy, few European missionaries were open to such arguments. The Basel Mission. The traditions and values of the community, as well as the meaning of life, were taught to the child. J. G. Christaller produced a Twi Grammar and Dictionary. As a mission school graduate noted, local history was almost totally ignored. In fact in 1966, Father Burke led students to a victory in a national educational contest called the Ghana TV Cup. The expansion of the missionary movement into Africa was part of the growing conception of Christian responsibility for the regeneration of African peoples. Then share it on your favourite social media platform for the benefit of others you care about. Prior to the advent of western education, Ghana's traditional social structures had inbuilt opportunities for mobility. 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. Schools were deemed important. Upon completing his degree, Father Burke received his first assignment abroad: Ghana, the first Black sub-Saharan country in Africa to gain independence from a colonial power. 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. An Alumnus of the University of Cape Coast in Ghana, a Journalist, Author and a Philanthropist. 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. In 1880, two Roman Catholic priests of the Society of African Missions (S.M.A. Call: +233558280780, Your email address will not be published. Also, the traditional doctors more often than not could not diagnose illness accurately. The Journal of Negro Education (JNE), a scholarly refereed journal, was founded at Howard University in 1932. In 2011 at age 77, he retired from teaching and returned to the United States. West Africa and Christianity. Today almost all of the population is Presbyterian, although the ancestral royal cult and many spirit cults still flourish. Notably among these missionaries are the Wesleyan, Basel, and Bremen. They even considered traditional drumming and African clothing as practices that were not worthy in the sight of the Lord. Their records from World War One show their distance from the war and yet that it did affect their decisions. 4>Ofv}TMdQ! Hope Waddell started pioneering work, in 1846, in Calabar. Longman Nigeria Plc., 1994, Boahen, A.A. et al Tropics in West Africa History. . For terms and use, please refer to our Terms and Conditions Unsurprisingly, the level of education increased as one moved closer to the missionaries. Economics They therefore set about to achieve this through introduction of formal education among the Batswana people. One of their scholarships is a drawing for $2,500. The greatest problem faced by the early European Christian missionaries was, the tropical climate and health Hazards. better grades The early African converts to Christianity, were made to abandon their ancestral culture and way of life as pagan therefore to be shunned. 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. They constitute the benefits that the missionaries brought to Africa as a whole. In 1892, the Church Missionary Society opened the Iyi Enu Hospital in Onitsha which is today a leading hospital in Anambra state. 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. This box contains: the correspondence of Bishop See thematic groupings of our digital collections, See all of our digital collections in one place, Ghana in Records from Colonial Missionaries, 1886-1951, Copies of letters received, 1890-1927; West Africa, vol. 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. It would be wrong, however, to blame all these ills on the Christian missionaries alone. In Fanteland, the Methodists and Roman Catholics pioneered similar works. J. C. Taylor, in these parts of southern Nigeria can still be seen today. By 1885, the church had spread further inland, thanks to Father Joseph Lutz who started work around Onitsha in 1886 and spread the gospel in many parts of the present day Imo and Anambra States. Several missionaries died at a youthful age due to the unfriendly tropical climate. 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. But despite the work of Portuguese missionaries based on the island of Sao Tome and later of Spanish missionaries in Benin, it was not until the nineteenth century that the Christian religion was firmly established in Nigeria. Earlier in 1846, the Rev. By February 2, 1918, all Basel missionaries had been deported from the Gold Coast. Kalu, Ogbu. The mission schools trained Africans to be able to work as translators, messengers and office clerks for the colonial government. They had to speak through few interpreters who did not have sufficient education to interpret correctly. He introduced the Methodist Church in Asante in 1839, and won the support of the Asante king. 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. 1931. Mobility depended on the . It is obvious that the main reason why the missionaries came to Ghana was to convert the indigenous people to the Christian faith. Christianity in West Africa: The Nigerian Story. The result is that today, many Africans are alienated from their authentic ways of life. 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). 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. He was very simple in dress and in the use of modern technology, Father Tetteh said. 1 (1971): 103-115. missionaries was the development of literature in Yoruba. The Methodists, known as the Wesleyan Missionaries (after their founder), arrived in Freetown in 1811. The system was devoid of any cohesive national policy. As a member of the Church of England, it interests me to see echoes of Christian educational efforts by organizations such as Compassion Canada in the educational efforts of the missionary branch of the Anglican Church, the Church Missionary Society, or CMS. which were for females (Graham, 1971). Next, branches of the C.M.S. 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. 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). However, the early missionaries established medical centres, at first at their mission posts, and later far and wide, to attend to the sick. These missionaries saw death in the course of their evangelizing work as a means to ascend to heavenly glory. In due course leprosariums and orphanages were built to supplement their medical services. senior high school crs Some of the positive development outcomes of former British colonies are arguably the result of a permissive attitude towards mission schools. hR]0+^$%K{_"/HevgV+bH6L %)`\ #\E*63Z_TsxlRZj:[/\IL-1b-i Crampton, Edmund Patrick Thurman. We're here to answer any questions you have about our services. 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. After earlier unsuccessful attempts by the missionaries Chretien Proten, Henrick Huckuff and Jacobus Capitein, the Anglican, Rev.
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