It happens that some people convert at the end of their life in order to be buried in the prestigious Presbyterian cemetery. However the superficial motivations and ideologies have changed, at the most basic level both contemporary Northern charities and nineteenth century missionaries share the belief that the North must come and save the suffering natives, which in the case of the missionaries, has been proven to have inflicted more harm than provided relief. Yes! 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. This allowed me to estimate the impact of mission schooling directly. Father Burke became director of the Divine Word Language and Cultural Centre in Ghana. Their personal and family choices influenced the expansion speed of missionary education. essay writing Series CLR. 26. English grammar But despite the work of Portuguese missionaries based on the island of Sao Tome and later of Spanish missionaries in Benin, it was not until the nineteenth century that the Christian religion was firmly established in Nigeria. 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. In fact in 1966, Father Burke led students to a victory in a national educational contest called the Ghana TV Cup. 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. 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. He was very simple in dress and in the use of modern technology, Father Tetteh said. From 1835 to the middle of the nineteenth century the Church was in opposition to traditional religion. Because of rivalry, instead of building one common, multi-denominational school in a village that really only needed the one school, missionaries each built a school for their particular denomination and competed for students (Berman 1974:533). The Methodist Church Ghana came into existence as a result of the missionary activities of the Wesleyan Methodist Church, inaugurated with the arrival of Joseph Rhodes Dunwell to the Gold Coast (Ghana) in 1835.Like the mother church, the Methodist Church in Ghana was established by people of Anglican background. Father Burke was preceded in death by his parents and his brother John. Free resources to assist you with your university studies! ), Father Auguste Moreau and Father Eugene Murat, arrived at Elmina and revived the Roman Catholic Church in Ghana. The Ghana Education Decentralization Project (GEDP), launched in 2010 and ended in 2012, has increased the influence of local authorities over management . His work, however, did not extend much beyond Cape Coast and the neighbouring area. It also talks about all the mission societies from all denominations engaged in educational works. The Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist and Anglican missions all made a major contribution to education in Ghana and Africa as a whole. Their records from World War One show their distance from the war and yet that it did affect . 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). 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. 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. Several missionaries died at a youthful age due to the unfriendly tropical climate. But with colonial conquest and antimalarial drugs, they moved further into the continent. cited in Miran 2002:128). Ghana continued to call. Who is Mrs. Konrad in Second Class Citizen? Africa and the Winder World 3. The effort of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. skills for his or her future role in the society (Hetherington, 1979; Davidoff, 1980; Aboagye, 1997). Discipleship and leadership development are needed in order to support local churches and their growth in Ghana. Father Burke, whose students included Father Tetteh and Archbishop Charles Palmer-Buckle of Accra, arrived in Ghana, West Africa, in 1963, only four years after the country gained independence from Great Britain. Success followed the efforts of the pioneer missionaries. 1931. The role of the Christian missionaries in Ghana and West Africa was not limited to the education and agricultural sectors alone. But Annor (1989) writes that before Europeans came to colonize Africa, Africans had a way of producing artifacts. adult education The system was devoid of any cohesive national policy. Moreover, mission education formed a poor foundation for future educational conditions in the former colonies. self help The missionary and colonial education aimed at character training and civilization resulted in cultural annihilation and religious, and linguistic hegemony. However, with time, they brought some crops, which they cultivated and which sustained them. Porter, Andrew. Christianity in West Africa: The Nigerian Story. Christian missions also took a leading role in the campaign to end the slave trade and to suppress slavery. . Arnold, 1986. One method of discouraging traditional practices was to give students a fully Western education. Through hard work and persuasion she succeeded in stopping the practice among the people of killing twins. In Ghana, missions strategically weighted costs and benefits when choosing where to establish their churches and schools. 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. One of them, Philip Quaque, returned in 1765 as an ordained priest. 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). House, 1967. The government gave grants according to the strength of the staff and the efficiency of the school judged by inspection reports and the results of public examinations. 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. To apply, students simply fill out a quick form. Rev. 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. Was this information useful? Secondary Schools in the Protectorate started later, following the establishment of Bo Government Secondary School in 1906. The pastors of the Church Missionary Society, from Badagry and later from Sierra Leone, visited these Christian communities in Abeokuta and other towns. 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. crs questions and anwers West African Senior School Certificate Examination. Further, the missionaries introduced improved methods of farming together with modern farm implements. student life 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. In many instances, they made their converts rebel against traditional rulers and other spiritual leaders. 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. They relied very much on their home churches for their funds. This is the famous Presbyterian Teacher Training College founded in 1848 at Akropong-Akwapim. The missionaries condemned African religion, music, art, festivals and customary practices. WhatsApp : +233204700052 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 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 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. 3 (2002): 555-584. education was an important means for mission evangelization. Today almost all of the population is Presbyterian, although the ancestral royal cult and many spirit cults still flourish. 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. The early African converts to Christianity, were made to abandon their ancestral culture and way of life as pagan therefore to be shunned. Given their priorities, it should thus come as little surprise that missions often provided poor education to the African pupils. 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. Operating from Whydah in what is today the Peoples Republic of Benin (formerly Dahomey), Father Berghero, in 1860, visited Abeokuta and Lagos where freed Catholic slaves from Brazil welcomed him warmly. In fact, the Christian missionaries encouraged Ghanaians to reject African names and choose Christian names instead. 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. 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. Indeed, most of our early nationalists were all products of mission schools. This post may contain affiliate links. However, the discovery of quinine and other curative medicines in the late 19th century made the history of the missionary work in West Africa a different thing altogether. better grades Besides education, they cared for the sick. It was difficult for the European missionaries to communicate freely with the local people. mock tests 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). ), Father Auguste Moreau and Father Eugene Murat, arrived at Elmina and revived the Roman Catholic Church in Ghana. One of their scholarships is a drawing for $2,500. The original letters from abroad cover West Africa from 1899 to 1933. The CMS began to work in the freed slave villages in Sierra Leone in 1804 and the Methodist in 1811. In the British colonies, as elsewhere, religious missions were instrumental in introducing European-style education. Looking for a flexible role? This finding was supported by two types of analysis. 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. Copyright 2023 ABWE. Schools were deemed important. The education provided in schools in early days also tended to place great emphasis on the superiority of western culture. Containing 9,566 pages belonging to 77 documents housed in 6 volumes As outlined in the short history entitled. Lastly, the missionaries were not used to eating our local foods. Moreover, they introduced new crops into the Ghanaian economy. They discovered that the holy book did not clearly prescribe monogamy, and contained several examples of renowned Christian polygamists. For instance the scholar E.A. The first missionaries to come to Ghana were the Roman Catholic missionaries in the 15th century and the Anglican missionaries. For several years they paid attention to slave trade rather than evangelization and Christianization of the people of West-Africa. 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). The result is that today, many Africans are alienated from their authentic ways of life. Besides, the missionaries had to travel longer distances to inland towns from their southern stations. 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. Among several others, the native Bishop Ajayi Crowther produced the first translation of the Bible in Yoruba. It is much easier to interact on an equal basis or even challenge the authority of another group when one is able to communicate in that groups language, instead of having to rely on an interpreter or non-verbal gestures, which undermine ones ability to show authority or express ones beliefs. A notable example, in Ghana, was the Methodist experimental farm near Cape Coast whose crops included cotton, coffee, black pepper, mango, ginger, cinnamon and olive trees. Brief History. The Roman Catholics established their first secondary school, St Augustines, at Cape Coast in 1936. It is important to emphasize that the modern history of the Christian Mission in Africa started from the late Eighteenth Century, the Catholics had been there earlier in the first centuries of the Christian era especially during the first Portuguese adventures. In the 19thh century, too, Afro-Brazilians returned to Benin and Nigeria with Catholicism. Today, human sacrifice is generally frowned upon and considered an abomination. In fact, most of the norms opposed by missionaries concerned gender relationships. 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. The most momentous discovery in western Africa came in 1471, when Portuguese captains first reached the coast of modern Ghana between the mouths of the Ankobra and Volta rivers. No plagiarism, guaranteed! In Nigeria, one of the lasting works of the C.M.S missionaries was the development of literature in Yoruba. 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). Father Tetteh also took note of Father Burkes humility and devotion to his students. They even considered traditional drumming and African clothing as practices that were not worthy in the sight of the Lord. Furthermore, mission schools discouraged traditional ways of life outside of the classroom. 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. Grammar School for Boys in 1859, St Gregorys College opened by the Catholics in 1876, Methodist Boys High School 1878 and Methodist Girls High School 1879. university courses One is led to ask, why this sudden development? began work in many parts of Africa. Etherington, Norman. Copyright 2003 - 2023 - UKEssays is a trading name of Business Bliss Consultants FZE, a company registered in United Arab Emirates. 2018). To their minds, Africans were too backward and needed help to become more civilized. senior high school crs She succeeded in stopping the killing of twins in the areas where she served. We shall now turn our attention to the activities of the Christian missionaries in Ghana. In this chapter, we shall examine how Christianity and Western-style education influenced West Africans values, attitudes and life-styles.
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