Moreover, mission education formed a poor foundation for future educational conditions in the former colonies. 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. Box 6000, Techny, IL 60082-6000. Under the Basel Missions Salem system, converts were separated from the traditional society. life skills Joseph Dunwell. English His funeral Mass was Sept. 27, followed by burial at St. Mary Cemetery at Techny. hb```,,g@( B(Pi xD r[e}v'$ImK *e()dP#jjTNl=VtN(%!30p0040tt0B GGc2m2@M``a$]x2\YkvIaB1b`h6f` (eAKPU d Request Permissions. Required fields are marked *. The third, St Nicholas Grammar School (now Adisadel College), was founded by the Anglican Church in 1910. Registered office: Creative Tower, Fujairah, PO Box 4422, UAE. His work, however, did not extend much beyond Cape Coast and the neighbouring area. So why did the European missionaries come to Ghana and other parts of Africa? Clarke, Peter Bernard. 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. These contradictions are surprisingly absent from contemporary research. Establishment of Christian Churches In Nigeria. In traditionally monogamous societies, primary school completion increased by about eight percent, but only four percent in polygamous societies. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004. In the same year as the Basel missionaries settled in Akuapem 1835 the Wesleyan (later Methodist) Church was established at Cape Coast by the Rev. Hildebrandt, Jonathan. ASSESS THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE CHRISTIAN MISSION TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF GHANA. It is one of the oldest continuously published periodicals by and about Black people. Let's look in-depth into these scholarships. Church history, history of Christianity, religious history: some reflections on British missionary enterprise since the late eighteenth century. Church History 71, no. Babalola, E. O. Christianity in West Africa. The statistical evidence suggests that education would have spread more evenly. 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. famous poems The traditions and values of the community, as well as the meaning of life, were taught to the child. The European Christian missions preached the Gospel, built churches, and seminaries translated the Bible to Ghanaian Languages such as Ewe, Ga, and Twi. Given their priorities, it should thus come as little surprise that missions often provided poor education to the African pupils. 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. In Sierra Leone, among the earliest higher institutions which the C.M.S. 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. The blessings which Christianity has brought to West Africa are many. Missionary, educator contributed to building independent Ghana. 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 Society of the Divine Word is the world's largest Roman Catholic order of priests and brothers who focus on missionary work. The missionaries also greatly improved the health services. Johannes Zimmermann, for example, produced a Ga dictionary, Ga bible and grammar book. In 1859, the first newspaper in Yoruba, called the Iwe-Irohim, was published by the missionaries. The story of the planting of Christianity in Nigeria would be incomplete without a mention of the Italian Roman Catholic priest, Father Berghero. 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. 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. 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. Two important private schools with strong Christian influence must also be mentioned: Accra High School, founded in 1923 and Accra Academy, established in In the days of Portuguese contacts with Nigeria, Catholic priests had established missionary stations in Benin and the neighbourhood. Vol. Metadata. The churches opened primary schools both in the capital and in the rural communities. For instance, the Basel Mission established the first teacher training college in Ghana. Among other missionary hospitals of long standing and reputation are those run by the Methodists at Wenkyi in the Brong-Ahafo Region, and by the Seventh Day Adventists at Kwahu Atibie in the Eastern Region. For example, they preached against human sacrifice. %%EOF 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. opened, in Freetown, the first boys secondary school in the country and another for girls in 1849, later renamed the Annie Walsh Memorial School. Missionaries were no doubt also aware that Africans came to associate European technological achievement with Western education (Bassey 1991:45) and therefore offered Western education as a means to attract Africans of this belief and then convert them. The Basel Mission. Within a short time the missionaries spread their activities inland. In 1880, two Roman Catholic priests of the Society of African Missions (S.M.A. In addition to studying the impact of these struggles on education, we also need to understand how they influenced gender inequality. Within ten years the C.M.S had opened twelve more schools in what is today Cross Rivers State. It included the opening up of Africa to forces of change namely commerce (legitimate commerce, i.e. For more than a year, Ghanaian Saints continued to practice their faith in their homes. B. et al. Among the Christian missionaries that came to the Gold Coast (Ghana) were the following. In 1845 the C.M.S. 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. Many Ghanaian communities got divided along religious lines. 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. Isichei, Elizabeth. 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. Founded in 1875 by St. Arnold Janssen, we number more than 6,000 missionaries. 2023 Society of the Divine Word. These Christian converts considered themselves to be holier than their traditional rulers and elders. A tiny act of kindness is remembered by a young man in need. Was this information useful? 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. 4; img 109. They discovered that the holy book did not clearly prescribe monogamy, and contained several examples of renowned Christian polygamists. West Africa and Christianity. Similar developments were carried out by the missionaries in other Nigerian languages, Efik, Kanuri, Igbo, etc. The three models of Secondary education in Ghana since colonial times are the Mfantsipim School founded by the Church (mission) in 1876, Achimota School in 1927 established by the British Colonial government Rather, it denationalized and facilitated the indignity and loss of cultural identity of the Ghanaian. Already have a license? Yes! 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. The expansion of the missionary movement into Africa was part of the growing conception of Christian responsibility for the regeneration of African peoples. For terms and use, please refer to our Terms and Conditions 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. The first missionaries to come to Ghana were the Roman Catholic missionaries in the 15th century and the Anglican missionaries. 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. Hope Waddell was later joined by the Rev. However, the motivation behind teaching Africans basic literacy and mathematics might not have been a cause for concern if not for the fact that the religious motivation curtailed education. Father Jean Marie Coquard, operating in and from Abeokuta for forty years, was renowned among the Egba as a priest and surgeon in the second half of the nineteenth century. Renewed evangelism started when the Basel (later known as Presbyterian) missionaries started work at Osu (Accra). CUP Archive, 1979. Containing 9,566 pages belonging to 77 documents housed in 6 volumes As outlined in the short history entitled. 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. Learn how your comment data is processed. What would have happened if missionaries had not insisted on monogamy? Henry Townsend who went from Sierra Leone to Badagry in 1842 in his company was the Rev Ajayi Crowther. Their luggage and other necessities had to be carried on heads and took a long time before reaching the missionaries. We've received widespread press coverage since 2003, Your UKEssays purchase is secure and we're rated 4.4/5 on reviews.co.uk. For instance, in Nigeria, one of the first groups of missionaries to introduce organised medical services were the Roman Catholics. However, accustomed to monogamy, few European missionaries were open to such arguments. Call: +233558280780, Your email address will not be published. Purchase a license below to view the full collection. non-slave trade), Christianity, Civilization and Colonization. It was however in the coastal territories filled with mulattos and other European trading communities that Christianity won some of its early success. 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. senior high school economics Its general scope extends to both Roman Catholic as well as Protestant missionaries in relation to education works. Establishment of Christian Churches In Sierra Leone. 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 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. But Annor (1989) writes that before Europeans came to colonize Africa, Africans had a way of producing artifacts. This finding was supported by two types of analysis. Being able to speak and write in the colonisers language was considered a privilege. 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). 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. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1995. 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. Through hard work and persuasion she succeeded in stopping the practice among the people of killing twins. He professed vows in 1953 in Conesus, N.Y., and was ordained to the priesthood in 1961 at Techny, Ill. Thomas Thompson, arrived in Cape Coast in 1752. 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. The Basel missionaries arrived on the shores of the Gold Coast in 1828 and Study for free with our range of university lectures! Ghana continued to call. They need YOU. Instead of needing to import skilled workers such as carpenters, the mission schools provided colonial governments with workers capable of building and maintaining the colonys infrastructure and basic technology, a contribution that kept the colonies running smoothly. 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. Despite their significant contributions to education, local language development, agriculture and the economy as a whole, the missionaries have been criticized severally. independent learning They did a lot to impact the social and economic lives of Africans. In an ironic twist, the more Africans became versed in the Bible, the more they began to challenge missionaries. One Liberian student recalls that we were taught to dress properly, to eat properly, to speak properly. In this chapter, we shall examine how Christianity and Western-style education influenced West Africans values, attitudes and life-styles. The effects of work done by Bishop Ajayi Crowther, assisted by the Igbo recaptive the Rev. The Basel and Methodist Missions, for example, introduced scientific agriculture in Ghana. While the Evangelical Presbyterian missionaries were the First to develop literature in Ewe, the Roman Catholics were responsible for Nzima literature. 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. They also prescribed many taboos which, in the light of modern medical science, had no relation whatever with the illness being treated. 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. This instruction in 1948 developed into the University College in Ibadan. Besides, the missionaries had to travel longer distances to inland towns from their southern stations. In the 19thh century, too, Afro-Brazilians returned to Benin and Nigeria with Catholicism. The Journal of Negro Education, 2019 The Church had its strongest hold in the Senegambia area. The people received the message with indifference. Africa Christian Press, 1996. Hugh Goldie and William Anderson. For several years they paid attention to slave trade rather than evangelization and Christianization of the people of West-Africa. 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. They therefore set about to achieve this through introduction of formal education among the Batswana people. 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. House, 1967. These included the Baptist missionaries who under the American evangelist, Thomas Bowen, started work from Ogbomosho in 1855. From simple essay plans, through to full dissertations, you can guarantee we have a service perfectly matched to your needs. Andreas Riis, assisted by a team of West Indian evangelists, laid the foundations of the Basel Missionary Church in the country. She succeeded in stopping the killing of twins in the areas where she served. Lastly, the missionaries were not used to eating our local foods. Johannes Zimmermann wrote a grammar of the Ga language, and in 1874 the Rev. 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. A special memorial Mass was celebrated at the Holy Spirit Cathedral in Accra, Ghana, on Oct. 9. Up to Guggisbergs time, the church schools did not receive grants from the government. His request to the Danish Crown for missionaries was forwarded to . By focusing on the African demand for education, I showed that Africans were not just passive recipients of mission schooling. Not only did mission education strengthen colonial rule, but it also weakened traditional societies and implemented poor standards of Western education. Christianity reborn: the global expansion of evangelicalism in the twentieth century. For this reason, missionaries believed they were doing their students a favour by discouraging traditional practices and promoting Western ones. Finally, education affects many other aspects of peoples lives, including economic opportunities and political attitudes. Many missionaries died because of the climate and tropical disease. The missionary activities in Nigeria, especially their educational programs helped to whip-up the consciousness of a shared identity and helped to train a new set of elite that championed the course of nationalism and constituted a virile leadership for the young nation at independence.Click to see full answer What is missionary education?A mission school or [] While living at the Divine Word Residence in Bordentown, N.J., he often visited parishes and schools to talk about missionary work. Yet, the relationship between European missionaries and African populations had some contradictions. Longman Nigeria Plc., 1994, Boahen, A.A. et al Tropics in West Africa History. First, missions saw education foremost as a means of conversion (Ayandele 1966: 286; Bassey 1991: 36; Berman 1974:527; Foster 1965:85; Sheffield 1973:11). The role of the Christian missionaries in Ghana and West Africa was not limited to the education and agricultural sectors alone. The Basel missionaries, in particular, established experimental farms and plantations in places like Akropong. The governor had observed the bad moral life of the Europeans in the fort. Mission schools provided a steady stream of educated Africans capable of filling the lower levels of the colonial administration and operated vocational and agricultural schools (Ayandele 1966: 295; Foster 1965: 90-91; Sheffield 1973: 10-11). PROBLEMS FACED BY THE CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES. 0 In 1925 the Governor introduced measures which helped the efforts of the missionaries. The late Eighteenth Century witnessed the rise of Christian groups in Europe that resorted to the evangelization of Africa. Soon after, in 1835 they moved up to Akropon on the hills in Akuapem, where the pioneer missionary the Rev. Prior to the arrival of Europeans in the 15th century, informal education existed in Ghana with the goal of introducing young people into the society. Kalu, Ogbu. For instance, in the Salisbury region of Rhodesia, it was reported in 1924 that no male teachers had educational qualifications (Bone 1969:28). The early missionaries set up craft centres as part of their educational programmes. Following ordination, he was sent to Washington, D.C., and the Catholic University of America, where he earned a masters degree in English literature. Consequently, they couldnt do much to promote the cultivation of food crops like maize, cassava, cocoyam and plantain. Johann Christaller produced a similar work in Twi. Again, the Wesleyan missionaries established Mfantsipim School in Cape Coast in 1876. 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). Please click this link to download the chapter. Until almost the end of the colonial period education was still largely in the hands of the churches. skills for his or her future role in the society (Hetherington, 1979; Davidoff, 1980; Aboagye, 1997). 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. Christian missionaries were the first to introduce European-style education in sub-Saharan Africa. The Ghana Education Decentralization Project (GEDP), launched in 2010 and ended in 2012, has increased the influence of local authorities over management . Theres still so much to be learned from the history of education in Africa and its long-term consequences. Today, human sacrifice is generally frowned upon and considered an abomination. As happened in other West African countries, many more mission-sponsored hospitals were founded in the course of the twentieth century. Their personal and family choices influenced the expansion speed of missionary education. Non-African Poetry 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). 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. These included the Basel Missionary Society, founded in Switzerland, and the Breman Mission formed in Germany. Are you ready to discover the points for an essay on the contribution of the Christian mission to the social and economic development of Ghana? 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. The greatest problem faced by the early European Christian missionaries was, the tropical climate and health Hazards. As a predominantly Roman Catholic country, France encouraged Roman Catholic missionaries right from the start of her colonial activities in West Africa. In spite of all this, with the advent of the First World War in 1914 in the Kwaku District there were 21 congregations with a total of over 2500 members. 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. 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 consequences of norm conflicts are likely to manifest beyond educational pursuit. 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. The lead was followed by other missionaries, notably the Roman Catholic, whose first higher institution was St Edwards Secondary School in Freetown. The anti-slavery issue and the humanitarian conscience also played a vital role in stimulating European interest in Africa and gave an impetus to mission work. Although Lokoja had a small C.M.S. They were at the forefront during the fight for self-rule in Ghana. Initially, their activities focused on coastal areas. Just look at the lyrics of this evangelizing song written in 1819 by Reginald Heber, a prolific English hymnist in the Anglican church. 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. The early success of the missionaries included areas like Freetown and surrounding villages. It is interesting to note that this project is not a new concept. It was difficult for the European missionaries to communicate freely with the local people. 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. wassce literature questions. Indeed, the quality of the education could be so poor that the colonial governments complained, as in the case of the Nigerian government, which complained that the secondary school graduates provided by the missions were illiterate and ignorant and therefore poorly suited to fill the lower levels of the administration (Ayandele 1966:294-5). The vast majority of the people of The Gambia are Moslems; but a sizeable percentage of the population, especially in and around the capital Banjul, are Christians. The Wesleyan and Basel missionaries established schools in Cape Coast, Accra .

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