contribution of missionaries to education in ghana
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. Cookies are small, safe and secure text files that sit on your computer which we use to give you a better experience on our site and help us improve the service that we provide to you. His viewing and wake service took place on Sept. 26 at the chapel in the Divine Word Residence at Techny. 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. He was followed, three years afterwards, by the Rev. History books tended to exaggerate in achievements of Europeans, making no reference to Africans own great past. At the time of its inception, however, there was no publication that systematically or comprehensively addressed the enormous problems that characterized the education of Blacks in the United States and elsewhere. In due course leprosariums and orphanages were built to supplement their medical services. Indeed, in some situations the converts were taught to feel that they were absolved from obeying their own traditional rulers and certain laws of the state. Another difficulty that the early missionaries faced in the spread of Christianity was insufficient Christian literature at that time. 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. These pioneer mission schools met with a discouraging response. Thus, as early as 1823, the Roman Catholic sisters started a clinic for the sick and for children in Banjul. Johannes Zimmermann wrote a grammar of the Ga language and translated the entire Bible and a Bible history into Ga. Then in 1874, the Rev. It would be wrong, however, to blame all these ills on the Christian missionaries alone. crs questions and anwers 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. 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. Debrunner, Hans Werner. In December 1868 he went with his wife and child to Anum in the present-day Volta Region of Ghana. In 1876 the college became associated with Durham University in England, which awarded degrees to students of the college. A large body of studies show that missionaries had a lasting impact beyond their early years. In Ghana the Presbyterians were pioneers in reducing Ga and Twi into writing. Establishment of Christian Churches In Nigeria. WAEC Finally, education affects many other aspects of peoples lives, including economic opportunities and political attitudes. 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. The churches opened primary schools both in the capital and in the rural communities. Seeing as missions in the British and Italian colonies had monopolies on education for the nineteenth to mid-twentieth centuries, this reluctance meant that there were few secondary schools at all (Ayandele 1966:287; Beck 1966: 120). senior high school economics One of their scholarships is a drawing for $2,500. Other difficulties they 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. The foreign exchange earnings helped to develop Ghanas infrastructure. More women than men attend church, and the more strict churchgoers tend to be wealthier and of higher social status than less churchgoers or non-Presbyterians. 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. Etherington, Norman. In 1880, two Roman Catholic priests of the Society of African Missions (S.M.A. However, accustomed to monogamy, few European missionaries were open to such arguments. It is simply one of the gross evils of heathen society which, like habitual murder or slavery, must at all costs be ended. While they frowned upon bridewealth, female genital cutting, or matrilineality, they held a special grudge against polygamy. 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. 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. Given their priorities, it should thus come as little surprise that missions often provided poor education to the African pupils. 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. In 1925 the Governor introduced measures which helped the efforts of the missionaries. The Christian religion teaches the doctrine of one supreme God and is opposed to the worship of any other forms of deity. The first batch, who came out between 1804 and 1806, included pioneer missionaries like Renner and Nylander. These missionaries saw death in the course of their evangelizing work as a means to ascend to heavenly glory. 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. non-slave trade), Christianity, Civilization and Colonization. While living at the Divine Word Residence in Bordentown, N.J., he often visited parishes and schools to talk about missionary work. By focusing on the African demand for education, I showed that Africans were not just passive recipients of mission schooling. They constitute the benefits that the missionaries brought to Africa as a whole. 2006 - 2023 Microform Academic Publishers | Microform Academic Publishers is a division of Microform Imaging Limited (Company registered in England no. Ghana Education Service seeks to create an enabling environment in all educational institutions and management positions that will facilitate effective teaching and learning and efficiency in the management for the attainment of the goals of the Service. After a time the idea becomes ingrained -it is heathen and unchristian to be an African culturally (Awori cited in Berman 1974:536). A tiny act of kindness is remembered by a young man in need. Soon after the Methodist experiment, the church Missionary Society set up their own school at Badagry. In many instances, they made their converts rebel against traditional rulers and other spiritual leaders. Sign in to view the collection. Of the ten largest congregations for men, the Society of the Divine Word is the fastest growing over the past 50 years. 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. In conclusion, the converts tended to look down upon many things in their ancestral culture. Disclaimer: This is an example of a student written essay.Click here for sample essays written by our professional writers. Thomas Birch Freeman, son of a London-based West Indian father and an English mother. The Journal of Negro Education, 2019 Its message was that of love and the universal brotherhood of mankind. The practice of inflicting multiple wounds on the bodies of so-called spirit babies now belongs to history. 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. 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. Founded in 1875 by St. Arnold Janssen, we number more than 6,000 missionaries. Copyright 20102023, The Conversation Media Group Ltd, Bristol Archives/Universal Images Group/Getty Images, Committee Member - MNF Research Advisory Committee, PhD Scholarship - Uncle Isaac Brown Indigenous Scholarship. The European missionaries engaged in trading and other commercial activities as well. Thank you for supporting this project. Among his pioneering achievements, he arranged for three youths to be sent to England for training as evangelists. 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. House, 1967. English for life In 2011 at age 77, he retired from teaching and returned to the United States. Some of the positive development outcomes of former British colonies are arguably the result of a permissive attitude towards mission schools. Father Tetteh also took note of Father Burkes humility and devotion to his students. 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. 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. The struggle over polygamy is well-known to historians and anthropologists. The governor had observed the bad moral life of the Europeans in the fort. grammatical name This single problem made the missionary work very difficult. %PDF-1.7 % Following agitation by the people in 1934, the government opened the old Yaba Higher College and Medical School, which awarded diplomas acceptable only locally. ), Father Auguste Moreau and Father Eugene Murat, arrived at Elmina and revived the Roman Catholic Church in Ghana. The missionaries opened schools further inland, and by 1880, the Wesleyan Mission had eighty -three schools. Public money was spent only on the small number of government schools, totaling nineteen when Governor Guggisberg assumed office in 1919. Today almost all of the population is Presbyterian, although the ancestral royal cult and many spirit cults still flourish. began work in many parts of Africa. Study for free with our range of university lectures! Contribution of Christian Missionaries in Ghana, Reasons Why Christian Missionaries Came to Africa, Discontinuation of Outmoded Cultural Practices, Negative Effects of Missionary Activities, Negative Impact on Traditional Authorities, Limited Support for The Production of Local Food Crops. 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. This thesis discusses and assesses contribution of Christian Missionaries to education in Meru from 1908 to 1963. An attempt to respond to this question informs the underlying interest for this paper, namely, to explore the extent to which these institutions, especially . English comprehension Properly meant by Anglo-Saxon standards. They provided missionaries a way to spread Eurocentric norms and attract new converts. Ekechi, Felix K. Colonialism and Christianity in West Africa: The Igbo Case, 19001915. The Journal of African History 12, no. Again, the missionaries helped to pacify Africans while their rich natural resources were being plundered by the colonial government. The early missionaries set up craft centres as part of their educational programmes. Ghana continued to call. Missionaries travelled through dense evergreen forests, crossed rivers and climbed mountains to bring the Gospel to as many Ghanaians as they could. This is the famous Presbyterian Teacher Training College founded in 1848 at Akropong-Akwapim. Consequently, they couldnt do much to promote the cultivation of food crops like maize, cassava, cocoyam and plantain. 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. Before 1925, there were only three secondary schools and three teacher training colleges in Ghana. In the British colonies, as elsewhere, religious missions were instrumental in introducing European-style education. 4; img 109. In addition to studying the impact of these struggles on education, we also need to understand how they influenced gender inequality. The missionaries seemed to have concentrated much of their effort on the production of export crops. The Committee for Women's Work was responsible for the education of native girls. What would have happened if missionaries had not insisted on monogamy? 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. In 1902 the Methodists opened a clinic at Igbo-Ora. 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 Thomas Thompson, arrived in Cape Coast in 1752. 'In view of this idea, Mmofraturo, the first girls boarding school in Ashanti was officially . For instance, the Basel Mission established Basel Mission Trading Company (UTC) in 1859. The Wesleyan and Basel missionaries established schools in Cape Coast, Accra . So why did the European missionaries come to Ghana and other parts of Africa? Clarke, Peter Bernard. 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). In fact in 1966, Father Burke led students to a victory in a national educational contest called the Ghana TV Cup. 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. For instance, in Nigeria, one of the first groups of missionaries to introduce organised medical services were the Roman Catholics. Among several others, the native Bishop Ajayi Crowther produced the first translation of the Bible in Yoruba. 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. The others include the French trading posts at Grand Bassam (Ivory Coast), Assinie and Libreville in Gabon.
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