Their activities had both positive and negative effects on Ghanaian society. For instance, on 2nd October 1792, the Baptist Missionary Society was formed followed by the interdenominational London Missionary Society which was established in 1795. In fact, the Christian missionaries encouraged Ghanaians to reject African names and choose Christian names instead. They also prescribed many taboos which, in the light of modern medical science, had no relation whatever with the illness being treated. Over time and with the dedication of teachers like Father Burke, the school rose to prominence. Soon after secondary schools were opened in other parts of southern Nigeria, including Bonny High School, which was taken over by government in 1904. Ghana continued to call. The contents of this tutorial will serve as a guide for a suitable essay on the below WAEC/WASSCE History past question. In 1859, the first newspaper in Yoruba, called the Iwe-Irohim, was published by the missionaries. For instance, in Nigeria in 2006, approximately only 51.2% of primary school teachers of either gender were trained as teachers, and the enrolment rate in primary education for both genders in 2000 stood at about 62.7%, compared to 99.5% in Canada (UN Data 2010). The Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist and Anglican missions all made a major contribution to education in Ghana and Africa as a whole. The missionaries seemed to have concentrated much of their effort on the production of export crops. The Presbyterians, also, opened hospitals in several parts of the country, including the one at Agogo in Asante-Akyem. If a government fails to regulate schools at all, they have no right to complain that the education in their colony is poor. (As at December 2020). T. Nelson. Required fields are marked *. The Journal of Negro Education (JNE), a scholarly refereed journal, was founded at Howard University in 1932. It also talks about all the mission societies from all denominations engaged in educational works. With the arrival of more missions into the country came an explosion in mission schools across southern Ghana. homework help student life A history of African Christianity 1950-1975. In 1876 the college became associated with Durham University in England, which awarded degrees to students of the college. Moreover, mission education formed a poor foundation for future educational conditions in the former colonies. 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. Registered office: Creative Tower, Fujairah, PO Box 4422, UAE. 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. Among his pioneering achievements, he arranged for three youths to be sent to England for training as evangelists. Some of the positive development outcomes of former British colonies are arguably the result of a permissive attitude towards mission schools. 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. Ghana - Statistics and Church Facts | Total Church Membership The copies of letters received, 1890-1927, mention the plan from 1914 to gain control of future Ashanti Chiefs using education. However, as Jonathan Miran (2002) argues in his work on the roles of missionaries and the Italian state in Eritrean education, missionaries should not be held solely accountable for the poor standards of education. Indeed, most of our early nationalists were all products of mission schools. The next major Christian missionaries to go out to Sierra Leone were the Roman Catholics. %PDF-1.7 % Arnold, 1986. In 2011 at age 77, he retired from teaching and returned to the United States. They often attributed natural ailments to supernatural causes and resorted to mystic cults to appease the unknown spirit, before applying medicine to the sick person. Young Vincent began his studies with the Society of the Divine Word at Divine Word Seminary at Miramar in Massachusetts in 1947. Through hard work and persuasion she succeeded in stopping the practice among the people of killing twins. Another contribution of missionaries to the development of Ghana was their pioneering role in writing many local languages. Some of these new crops were grapes coffee, mango, ginger, and olives. Now, with the burgeoning Cocoa industry, the expansion of commercial activity, the development of gold mines and the building of roads and railways disturbed the traditional lifestyle. All the three secondary schools in Cape Coast were mission institutions. This post may contain affiliate links. They were followed by other major missionary bodies, including the Methodists and the Roman Catholics. 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. Evans Brothers, Ltd. London. Their economic activities went beyond the development of agriculture. 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. Schools were deemed important. Lets now take a closer look at both the positive and negative impacts of the activities of the Christian missionaries in Ghana and the rest of Africa. 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. 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. In fact in 1966, Father Burke led students to a victory in a national educational contest called the Ghana TV Cup. Disclaimer: This is an example of a student written essay.Click here for sample essays written by our professional writers. Call: +233558280780, Your email address will not be published. To export a reference to this article please select a referencing stye below: If you are the original writer of this essay and no longer wish to have your work published on UKEssays.com then please: Our academic writing and marking services can help you! In fact, most of the norms opposed by missionaries concerned gender relationships. The Church had its strongest hold in the Senegambia area. A history of Christianity in Ghana. Education - Education in British colonies and former colonies As Ayandele points out (1966:285), the ideal of many of the missions was to make their converts live literally as the unlearned and ignorant apostles of old. This ideal, combined with the fact that many missionaries discovered that Africans with only basic education were best at spreading the Gospel, meant that missionaries were reluctant to provide higher primary or secondary education (Ayandele 1966:286). In 1910, a prominent report of the World Missionary Conference concluded: [T]here can be no question of polygamy. self help They provided missionaries a way to spread Eurocentric norms and attract new converts. What are the contribution of the missionaries? - Alqatirat Notable among these were cocoa and coffee. 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. ABWE is also at work in countries that restrict evangelism. Website design and development by Americaneagle.com, Inc, Society of the Divine Word- Western Province, Society of the Divine Word- Southern Province. The Basel missionaries, in particular, established experimental farms and plantations in places like Akropong. The mission schools trained Africans to be able to work as translators, messengers and office clerks for the colonial government. In many instances, they made their converts rebel against traditional rulers and other spiritual leaders. Some of these effects are still with us today. According to the Head of the Methodist Church in Ghana, Mmofraturo was established in Kumasi, 'when it dawned on the early Wesleyan Missionaries that when the girl child was educated, she could grow up to face the challenges of the fast-changing world. But Annor (1989) writes that before Europeans came to colonize Africa, Africans had a way of producing artifacts. Establishment of Christian Churches In Ghana. 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. Founded in 1875 by St. Arnold Janssen, we number more than 6,000 missionaries. 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. PDF Educational Reforms in Ghana: Past and Present Samuel Adu-Gyamfi1 They need YOU. A tiny act of kindness is remembered by a young man in need. 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. The people received the message with indifference. The system was devoid of any cohesive national policy. 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. Containing 9,566 pages belonging to 77 documents housed in 6 volumes As outlined in the short history entitled. In addition to studying the impact of these struggles on education, we also need to understand how they influenced gender inequality. opened was the Christian Institute, established in 1814 for the training of teachers, catechists and priests. For instance the scholar E.A. Moreover, speaking through interpreters is a defective means of communicating ones thoughts to ones audience. Some progressive Europeans, like the first principal of Achimota College, Rev. Thank you for supporting this project. Hope Waddell started pioneering work, in 1846, in Calabar. The governor had observed the bad moral life of the Europeans in the fort. 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. Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Bremen, Research Center on Inequality and Social Policy (SOCIUM), Universitt Bremen. Missionary, educator contributed to building independent Ghana. The common response among traditionally polygamous people is well illustrated by a passage in Jomo Kenyattas famous book on the Gikuyu in colonial Kenya: This [the insistence on monogamy] caused a great confusion, for the African could not understand how he could drive away his wives and children, especially in a community where motherhood is looked upon as a religious duty; the children are regarded as part and parcel, not only of the father, but of the whole clan (mbari), and without them the mbari is lost. Clarke, Peter Bernard. "Big things have small beginnings"; so is The Presbyterian Church of Ghana. Also the missionaries set up model farms where scientific agriculture was taught and new crops were introduced for the people, to go alongside longstanding indigenous production. The problems created by the white missionaries themselves arose largely from a misconception of what Africa represented. Today almost all of the population is Presbyterian, although the ancestral royal cult and many spirit cults still flourish. Father Tetteh also took note of Father Burkes humility and devotion to his students. It was only after the Second World War that the colonial governments started to show a real interest in the promotion of formal education in West Africa. *You can also browse our support articles here >. Contributions of Missionaries Towards Education in India The Methodists, known as the Wesleyan Missionaries (after their founder), arrived in Freetown in 1811. Thomas Birch Freeman, son of a London-based West Indian father and an English mother. A permanent station was established in Lagos in 1868, soon followed by others at Lokoja, Abeokuta and Ibadan. The early success of the missionaries included areas like Freetown and surrounding villages. For instance, the Basel Mission established Basel Mission Trading Company (UTC) in 1859. The original letters from abroad cover West Africa from 1899 to 1933. The Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist and Anglican missions all made a major contribution to education in Ghana and Africa as a whole. Andreas Riis, assisted by a team of West Indian evangelists, laid the foundations of the Basel Missionary Church in the country. Prior to the advent of western education, Ghana's traditional social structures had inbuilt opportunities for mobility. 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 agricultural schools the missions ran would have been even more advantageous to the colonial governments considering the discouragement of local industries that might have competed with the motherland. After World War I was declared in 1914, the German missionaries were restricted in their movements by the British in the British colonies.
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contribution of missionaries to education in ghana