personal development The effort of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. 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? She succeeded in stopping the killing of twins in the areas where she served. He was very simple in dress and in the use of modern technology, Father Tetteh said. There were only bush paths, and no roads in the early times. the role of administrators, chiefs and the missions; first attempts at agricultural and industrial training; girls' education and teacher training before 1850; some chief factors in educational expansion 1850-1900; government official policy in educational expansion 1850-1900; agricultural, industrial and vernacular training 1850-1900 He was followed, three years afterwards, by the Rev. While living at the Divine Word Residence in Bordentown, N.J., he often visited parishes and schools to talk about missionary work. These trends occasionally brought kings into conflict with the missionaries and their converts. 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. 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. Joseph Dunwell. Introduction, spread and effects, 6: Christian Missionary Activities in West Africa, 7: Scramble for and Partition of West Africa, 9: Problems of Independent West African States, 10: West Africa and International Organizations, 11: Women and Authority in West African History, 12: The Environment in West African History. 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. faceless characters The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, the Moravian Mission, the Mission of Bremen, the Methodists, and Roman Catholic missionaries all established themselves on the Gold Coast (Ghana) between 1820 and 1881, opening elementary schools for boys and girls . In Ghana the Presbyterians were pioneers in reducing Ga and Twi into writing. In December 1868 he went with his wife and child to Anum in the present-day Volta Region of Ghana. In addition, the contributions of celebrity missionaries, such as Christian Schwartz, William Carey, Alexander Duff, and James . In conclusion, the converts tended to look down upon many things in their ancestral culture. If a government fails to regulate schools at all, they have no right to complain that the education in their colony is poor. Even when governments discouraged domestic industries, graduates of vocational schools contributed to the economy of the colonies -and therefore indirectly the mother countrys as well. The missions agricultural schools were especially beneficial for colonial governments considering that governments believed that manual labour was a means to prevent discontent and unrest in the tribes (Hansen 1984:232). Among other things the regulations required that all teachers should be registered, and a minimum salary was fixed. While the Evangelical Presbyterian missionaries were the First to develop literature in Ewe, the Roman Catholics were responsible for Nzima literature. In 1858 the Rev. After earlier unsuccessful attempts by the missionaries Chretien Proten, Henrick Huckuff and Jacobus Capitein, the Anglican, Rev. Besides education, they cared for the sick. The kingdom of God in Africa: A short history of African Christianity. While it has brought undoubted benefits, it has also harmed the traditional way of life. The foreign exchange earnings helped to develop Ghanas infrastructure. In Ghana, for instance, they persuaded their converts to reject polygamy and human sacrifice. As happened in other West African countries, many more mission-sponsored hospitals were founded in the course of the twentieth century. 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 Journal of Negro Education (JNE), a scholarly refereed journal, was founded at Howard University in 1932. In fact in 1966, Father Burke led students to a victory in a national educational contest called the Ghana TV Cup. 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. 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. A history of Christianity in Ghana. The Committee for Women's Work was responsible for the education of native girls. Ghana continued to call. Isichei, Elizabeth. Hugh Goldie and William Anderson. In due course leprosariums and orphanages were built to supplement their medical services. 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. The resulting atmosphere of disunity enabled the European colonialists to easily achieve their goal of economic exploitation. This involved learning to read in the vernacular (Hadfield cited in Bone 1969:7). To apply, students simply fill out a quick form. Christian missionaries were the first to introduce European-style education in sub-Saharan Africa. document.getElementById("ak_js_1").setAttribute("value",(new Date()).getTime()); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. The tropical climatic condition in the country was not favourable to the early missionaries who came to the shores of West Africa. Metadata. better grades 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. ASSESS THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE CHRISTIAN MISSION TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF GHANA. Series CLS. 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. There were several reasons for this poor education, some intentional and some not. In addition to contributing to fluctuating educational standards across the colony, inter-denominational rivalry caused a disparity in access to education. As happened in other colonial territories, the government did not show great interest in the provision of education in Ghana until the missionaries had extended their services throughout the country and had set up primary schools and a few secondary schools and training colleges. Edward Berman notes that contemporary critics of the missionaries felt that missionaries were more interested in increasing enrolments in their respective churches than in pooling their resources for the benefit of African education (Berman 1974:533). Up to Guggisbergs time, the church schools did not receive grants from the government. homework help Non-African Poetry Christian missions also took a leading role in the campaign to end the slave trade and to suppress slavery. 522 0 obj <>stream Disclaimer: This is an example of a student written essay.Click here for sample essays written by our professional writers. Here you can choose which regional hub you wish to view, providing you with the most relevant information we have for your specific region. Ayandele (1966:283), writing in the 1960s, says, By their [the missions] efforts the main languages of Nigeria have been preserved as a lasting legacy to the Ibo, Yoruba, Efik, Nupe and Hausa. However, this practice was in fact probably more due to stereotypes of African ignorance than an interest in being culturally respectful: missionaries may have believed that it would take too long to teach a superior European language to the unintelligent natives when the natives souls were in such desperate need of saving. 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. For the next decade, the Church grew in Ghana at an accelerated pace. 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. "Big things have small beginnings"; so is The Presbyterian Church of Ghana. Andreas Riis, assisted by a team of West Indian evangelists, laid the foundations of the Basel Missionary Church in the country. The statistical evidence suggests that education would have spread more evenly. cited in Miran 2002:128). One of them, Philip Quaque, returned in 1765 as an ordained priest. Sign in to view the collection. History Reiterating what teacher education must encapsulate, Adegoke (2003) and Benneh (2006) indi-cated that the mission of Ghana's teacher education is to pro- Efforts to change these norms were often aimed at women. This thesis discusses and assesses contribution of Christian Missionaries to education in Meru from 1908 to 1963. 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. The Presbyterians, also, opened hospitals in several parts of the country, including the one at Agogo in Asante-Akyem. Among several others, the native Bishop Ajayi Crowther produced the first translation of the Bible in Yoruba. 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. 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. 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. CUP Archive, 1979. The churches opened primary schools both in the capital and in the rural communities. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004. The European Christian missions preached the Gospel, built churches, and seminaries translated the Bible to Ghanaian Languages such as Ewe, Ga, and Twi. Arnold, 1986. 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. The first school in Nigeria was started by the Methodist missionaries at Badagry in 1842. In addition to teaching, he served as national spiritual director of the Ghana Sacred Heart Enthronement Centre and spiritual director of the Accra Diocesan Sacred Heart Centre. Henry Townsend who went from Sierra Leone to Badagry in 1842 in his company was the Rev Ajayi Crowther. Predominantly Muslim territory, the North received western education later than the South. In fact, most of the norms opposed by missionaries concerned gender relationships. Above, we have described the role that trading companies, missionaries, and the government played for the spread of Western education in the coastal areas from the late sixteenth century onwards. What would have happened if missionaries had not insisted on monogamy? The Rev. Public money was spent only on the small number of government schools, totaling nineteen when Governor Guggisberg assumed office in 1919. 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. DISCLOSURE. His request to the Danish Crown for missionaries was forwarded to . Notably among these missionaries are the Wesleyan, Basel, and Bremen. They relied very much on their home churches for their funds. Their records from World War One show their distance from the war and yet that it did affect . Origins, organization and effects in the development of West Africa, 3: Islam in West Africa. They preferred to hold onto polygamy, even at the cost of illiteracy. Just look at the lyrics of this evangelizing song written in 1819 by Reginald Heber, a prolific English hymnist in the Anglican church. independent learning He told me that that amount of money could pay for school fees for five students in secondary school in Ghana.. Already have a license? In my study, I explored how colonial era conflicts and disagreements over marriage norms lastingly affected educational development. I have used my expertise to design and implement strategies for major projects including new programme development, global proposals, book launches, international talks, lectures, and executive . 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. 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 people received the message with indifference. In the British colonies, as elsewhere, religious missions were instrumental in introducing European-style education. Thank you! Kuhne , his fellow captive and co-author joined him at the mission as a trader in cotton, an activity which was part of, and a means of, financing the mission. 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. In spite of the division, the parent Methodist missionary church played an important role in the history of Christianity in Sierra Leone. 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. These commercial activities, therefore, made an important contribution to the economic development of Ghana. 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. These included the Baptist missionaries who under the American evangelist, Thomas Bowen, started work from Ogbomosho in 1855. Thomas Thompson, arrived in Cape Coast in 1752. Website design and development by Americaneagle.com, Inc, Society of the Divine Word- Western Province, Society of the Divine Word- Southern Province. 4>Ofv}TMdQ! After earlier unsuccessful attempts by the missionaries Chretien Proten, Henrick Huckuff and Jacobus Capitein, the Anglican, Rev. In an ironic twist, the more Africans became versed in the Bible, the more they began to challenge missionaries. A new attempt to spread Christianity was made when the Church Missionary Society (CMS) arrived from Britain in 1821. The third, St Nicholas Grammar School (now Adisadel College), was founded by the Anglican Church in 1910. Kalu, Ogbu. 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. 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. After six years at St. Peters, Father Burke was named chaplain and professor of English literature at St. Thomas Aquinas Secondary School in Osu, Ghana. 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. Thus as early as 1823, the Roman Catholic Sisters started a clinic for the sick and for children in Banjul. Some of these effects are still with us today. It was not until the nineteenth century, that the new religion was really established in West Africa. In 1827 it grew into Fourah Bay College. 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 ABWE is also at work in countries that restrict evangelism. English 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). The constant tensions between traditionalists and Christian converts often erupted into all-out conflicts. Another reason why the Europeans came to spread the Christian religion in Ghana was to pave their own way into eternal glory. 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. Soon after secondary schools were opened in other parts of southern Nigeria, including Bonny High School, which was taken over by government in 1904. church were founded in south-eastern Nigeria, the chief centres being Bonny and Brass. This was around the same time that the first Portuguese sailors arrived on the coast of Ghana. Four volumes of incoming correspondence marked "West Africa" on the spine. Moreover, mission education formed a poor foundation for future educational conditions in the former colonies. Unlike the Portuguese, the French colonial officials encouraged the Christian missionaries in the promotion of formal education and social services, notably health. Therefore the period for the rise of Christianizing Missions in the late Nineteenth Century has been considered as reprise. The country has diverse geography, people groups, and languageswith English as the common language, and more than 11 others with state recognition. In short, it was a very successful mission in making us little black Anglo-Saxon Protestants. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1995. In fact, Jacobus Capitein, a former Ghanaian slave who became a priest in the Dutch Reformed Church in the 18th century was on record to have defended the practice of slavery. They also introduced vocational education in the country. These included the Basel Missionary Society, founded in Switzerland, and the Breman Mission formed in Germany. To their minds, Africans were too backward and needed help to become more civilized. The first Europeans arrived at the West-African Coasts at the end of the fifteenth century. The system was devoid of any cohesive national policy. (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. It was difficult for the European missionaries to communicate freely with the local people. One method of discouraging traditional practices was to give students a fully Western education. Some of the positive development outcomes of former British colonies are arguably the result of a permissive attitude towards mission schools. To supplement these missionary efforts in the field of higher education, the government opened its own secondary school in Lagos in 1909, this was Kings College. After completing that assignment, Father Burkes superiors asked him to teach English as a second language (ESL) to Divine Word missionaries who did not know the language.