In the case of Ghana, like other nations, the impact . A history of African Christianity 1950-1975. In addition, the contributions of celebrity missionaries, such as Christian Schwartz, William Carey, Alexander Duff, and James . This Western education imparted to the Ameru by the Church of Scotland Missionaries, Consolata . The original letters from abroad cover West Africa from 1899 to 1933. "Big things have small beginnings"; so is The Presbyterian Church of Ghana. Also, Christian missionaries in Ghana were as zealous as their counterparts in Nigeria in pioneering medical services. And yet the Asafo provided most of the services which a community needed: protection against military attacks, communal services, etc. Later that year, in recognition of his service to the Ghanaian people, President John Dramani Mahama bestowed the honor of Officer of the Order of Volta upon him. 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. The country has diverse geography, people groups, and languageswith English as the common language, and more than 11 others with state recognition. 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. famous poems Andreas Riis, assisted by a team of West Indian evangelists, laid the foundations of the Basel Missionary Church in the country. 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. Joseph Dunwell. The struggle over polygamy is well-known to historians and anthropologists. crs questions and anwers Indeed, most of our early nationalists were all products of mission schools. 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. We use cookies to improve your experience on our website. West Africa owes to the Christian missionaries not only a new religious faith which has changed the beliefs and life of millions of people, but also the foundation of western education. J. C. Taylor, in these parts of southern Nigeria can still be seen today. 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. This comes at no extra cost to you. In addition to promoting a monogamous lifestyle in their schools, missionaries often insisted on divorces before polygamists or their children could even enrol. 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. PDF OVERVIEW OF EDUCATION IN GHANA - WikiEducator 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. Literature Bamgboye & Company Press, 1976. These trends occasionally brought kings into conflict with the missionaries and their converts. Clarke, Peter Bernard. 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. document.getElementById("ak_js_1").setAttribute("value",(new Date()).getTime()); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. The quest for an all-inclusive development model of Ghana and other developing nations, therefore, calls for an insight into the role and responsibilities of religion toward education. Its general scope extends to both Roman Catholic as well as Protestant missionaries in relation to education works. One of them, Philip Quaque, returned in 1765 as an ordained priest. Several missionaries died at a youthful age due to the unfriendly tropical climate. They preferred to hold onto polygamy, even at the cost of illiteracy. 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. 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. Other difficulties the early Christians faced were the problems of the many languages and dialects and their ignorance of the true meaning of the various cultures, beliefs, values and ways of life of the people whom they set out to convert to Christianity. Without denying that prior to the introduction of Christianity in West Africa the people had developed their own crafts, one must admit that it was Christian missionaries who introduced modern forms of crafts such as carpentry and masonry. 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). In 1876 the college became associated with Durham University in England, which awarded degrees to students of the college. Prior to the advent of western education, Ghana's traditional social structures had inbuilt opportunities for mobility. For instance, in Nigeria, one of the first groups of missionaries to introduce organised medical services were the Roman Catholics. Porter, Andrew. Mission schools were popular because of the new skills and opportunities they offered. They were replaced in Sierra Leone by the Holy Ghost Fathers in 1864, who made converts in large numbers not only among the pagans but also among the members of the then competing Christian churches. The mission schools trained Africans to be able to work as translators, messengers and office clerks for the colonial government. 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. Public money was spent only on the small number of government schools, totaling nineteen when Governor Guggisberg assumed office in 1919. He had a special devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. 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. His request to the Danish Crown for missionaries was forwarded to . Amidst much honest missionary activity in the country for two centuries, prosperity gospel teachers have also gained influence, and numerous indigenous cults have arisen with distinct appeal and just enough truth to create confusion and syncretism. Then lets begin straightaway. Soon after, in 1835 they moved up to Akropong on the hills in Akuapem, where the pioneer missionary the Rev. This chapter traces the origins and long-term development of African mass education in colonial sub-Saharan Africa. As they could not recruit British missionary volunteers initially, the Church Missionary Society sponsored the services of German missionaries, who were Lutherans, to come out to Sierra Leone. Properly meant by Anglo-Saxon standards. The first Europeans arrived at the West-African Coasts at the end of the fifteenth century. There were related organizations that sprang up in Scandinavia, Holland and the USA. The school, which was established the year of independence in 1957, was a work in progress. The contents of this tutorial will serve as a guide for a suitable essay on the below WAEC/WASSCE History past question. 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). One is led to ask, why this sudden development? For this reason, missionaries believed they were doing their students a favour by discouraging traditional practices and promoting Western ones. Soon after secondary schools were opened in other parts of southern Nigeria, including Bonny High School, which was taken over by government in 1904. This item is part of a JSTOR Collection. Although there were many disagreements between European missionaries and African populations, antagonising polygamy is probably the best-documented norm conflict. A new attempt to spread Christianity was made when the Church Missionary Society (CMS) arrived from Britain in 1821. He was followed, three years afterwards, by the Rev. Thomas Thompson, arrived in Cape Coast in 1752. It is simply one of the gross evils of heathen society which, like habitual murder or slavery, must at all costs be ended. Hope Waddell started pioneering work, in 1846, in Calabar. In 1859, the first newspaper in Yoruba. The Missionary Role on The Gold Coast and In Ashanti: Reverend F.a ]v#5%{,%Y{iKsZ|Cm7NismGmg_zxKYh?>bQ?ni8G.wx:qAm$ eb!^Kr$,.9Qq^|1. We've received widespread press coverage since 2003, Your UKEssays purchase is secure and we're rated 4.4/5 on reviews.co.uk. Through hard work and persuasion she succeeded in stopping the practice among the people of killing twins. 2 (1983): 116-143. It offered the most direct path towards prestigious jobs in colonial administrations and European enterprises. 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. It is possible to hear the tune of this missionary hymn. It also plays an important role in organization of inheritances within matrilineal houses and thus exerts influence from a legal point of view. While it has brought undoubted benefits, it has also harmed the traditional way of life. John G. Christaller (described as the Father of Twi Literature) produced a Twi grammar and dictionary, a collection of Twi proverbs, a Twi translation of the Bible as well as prayers and hymns. The governor had observed the bad moral life of the Europeans in the fort. 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. In 1880, two Roman Catholic priests of the Society of African Missions (S.M.A. Instruction in the Colonial School and the Wesleyan Mission schools at Cape Coast Castle was in English despite the fact that Fanti was the language of the native people. Thomas Birch Freeman, son of a London-based West Indian father and an English mother. Christian converts were indoctrinated to frown upon the use of indigenous first names in favour of Christian ones. 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. If a government fails to regulate schools at all, they have no right to complain that the education in their colony is poor. Consequently, they couldnt do much to promote the cultivation of food crops like maize, cassava, cocoyam and plantain. The others include the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1804, which was tasked with the responsibility of promoting the translation and printing of the Holy Bible. Within ten years the C.M.S had opened twelve more schools in what is today Cross Rivers State. For terms and use, please refer to our Terms and Conditions While they frowned upon bridewealth, female genital cutting, or matrilineality, they held a special grudge against polygamy. Prominent among the early Christian missionaries to come to the Gold Coast (Ghana) were the Roman Catholic, Methodist, Basel, Bremen and Anglican missions. 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. But that increase was greater in monogamous societies. Education in Ghana - Wikipedia Their luggage and other necessities had to be carried on heads and took a long time before reaching the missionaries. 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. hR]0+^$%K{_"/HevgV+bH6L %)`\ #\E*63Z_TsxlRZj:[/\IL-1b-i EVANGELICAL MOVEMENTS AND MISSIONARY SOCIETIES IN THE ENGLISH COLONIES. J. G. Christaller produced a Twi Grammar and Dictionary. Another important missionary doctor was J. R. Stephen who for many years headed a missionary hospital at Ilesha. Christian missionaries were the first to introduce European-style education in sub-Saharan Africa. While living at the Divine Word Residence in Bordentown, N.J., he often visited parishes and schools to talk about missionary work. Among his pioneering achievements, he arranged for three youths to be sent to England for training as evangelists. 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. 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. Their personal and family choices influenced the expansion speed of missionary education. She succeeded in stopping the killing of twins in the areas where she served. New missionary societies (the LMS, the CMS, the Holy Ghost Fathers, the White Fathers, etc.) He was very simple in dress and in the use of modern technology, Father Tetteh said. 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. The work of the Basel Missionary Society was taken over with the consent of the Basel Mission Home Board by the United Free Church of Scotland whose ecclesiastical organization was Presbyterian. This involved learning to read in the vernacular (Hadfield cited in Bone 1969:7). One of their scholarships is a drawing for $2,500. Notable among these were cocoa and coffee. These Christian converts considered themselves to be holier than their traditional rulers and elders. The impact of Christianity on West African society has persisted to this day. CUP Archive, 1979. An Alumnus of the University of Cape Coast in Ghana, a Journalist, Author and a Philanthropist. 2006 - 2023 Microform Academic Publishers | Microform Academic Publishers is a division of Microform Imaging Limited (Company registered in England no. The study examines the historical foundations of Western education in Meru and factors that influenced its development. Vol. For instance, the Basel Mission established Basel Mission Trading Company (UTC) in 1859. By February 2, 1918, all Basel missionaries had been deported from the Gold Coast. ), Father Auguste Moreau and Father Eugene Murat, arrived at Elmina and revived the Roman Catholic Church in Ghana. 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. Cultural deprivation is what many of us suffer from []. CONTRIBUTION OF CHRISTIANITY TO 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. Also, the traditional doctors more often than not could not diagnose illness accurately. 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). Renewed evangelism started when the Basel (later known as Presbyterian) missionaries started work at Osu (Accra). 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. 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. Yet, the relationship between European missionaries and African populations had some contradictions. Ghana continued to call. 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. B. et al. 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. 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. Required fields are marked *. Some earlier scholarship on mission education has taken this as a positive impact of the missionaries. Website design and development by Americaneagle.com, Inc, Society of the Divine Word- Western Province, Society of the Divine Word- Southern Province. Reiterating what teacher education must encapsulate, Adegoke (2003) and Benneh (2006) indi-cated that the mission of Ghana's teacher education is to pro- The Basel and Methodist Missions, for example, introduced scientific agriculture in Ghana. 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. In the days of Portuguese contacts with Nigeria, Catholic priests had established missionary stations in Benin and the neighbourhood. WAEC The coming of the Christian missionaries to Ghana had a positive impact on agriculture. Their records from World War One show their distance from the war and yet that it did affect . 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. %%EOF I also matched up locations that differed in proximity to the mission stations, but otherwise had similar preconditions for educational development. grammatical name Again, the missionaries helped to pacify Africans while their rich natural resources were being plundered by the colonial government. Europe in those days looked upon Africa as the Dark Continent with very primitive civilizations, and most Europeans refused to adapt their religion to suit the local situation. In the field of education, however, the missionaries had to adjust their programmes to fit in with the policy of assimilation. In fact, the Christian missionaries encouraged Ghanaians to reject African names and choose Christian names instead. Despite their significant contributions to education, local language development, agriculture and the economy as a whole, the missionaries have been criticized severally. 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. 1 (1971): 103-115. The Contribution of christian missionaries to education in Meru 1908-1963. mock tests Founded in 1875 by St. Arnold Janssen, we number more than 6,000 missionaries. 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). Frank Ogodo Ogbeche The European missionaries engaged in trading and other commercial activities as well. Furthermore, each denomination had differing policies on education, so standards in education fluctuated across each colony, depending on what denomination had schools in each area. Mr. Henry Kwadwo Amoako is a Ghanaian Social Scientist, Researcher and Acclaimed Historian for over two decades. Today almost all of the population is Presbyterian, although the ancestral royal cult and many spirit cults still flourish. For instance, on 2nd October 1792, the Baptist Missionary Society was formed followed by the interdenominational London Missionary Society which was established in 1795. 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. First, I looked at how educational outcomes depended on the distance to historical missions. Role of Missionaries in Colonial African Education - UKEssays.com They were followed by other major missionary bodies, including the Methodists and the Roman Catholics. What are the contribution of the missionaries? - Alqatirat 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. 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. Some of the positive development outcomes of former British colonies are arguably the result of a permissive attitude towards mission schools. The problems created by the white missionaries themselves arose largely from a misconception of what Africa represented. I well remember when he came to live with me in Trenton. Being ignorant of the significance of certain institutions and practices of the people of West Africa, and occasionally being misled by their over-zealous followings into wrongly interpreting the peoples heritage, the missionaries compelled pupils in their schools and docile adult converts to shun their own ancestral practices. Ekechi, Felix K. Colonialism and Christianity in West Africa: The Igbo Case, 19001915. The Journal of African History 12, no.
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