The History of Education in Ghana: From the Earliest Times to the Declaration of Independance [1 ed.] 9780203042939

Citation preview

CASS LIBRARY

OF

AFRICAN

STUDIES

GENERAL STUDIES No. 108 Editorial Adviser: JOHN RALPH WILLIS Department of History, University of California, Berkeley

The History of Education in Ghana

The History of Education in Ghana From the Earliest Times to the Declaration of Independence

C. K. Graham University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana

FRANK CASS & CO. LTD. 1971

First published in 1971 by FRANK CASS AND COMPANY LIMITED 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN

Transferred to Digital Printing 2005

Distributed in the United States by International Scholarly Book Services, Inc. Beaverton, Oregon 97005

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 77-169808 ISBN 0 7146 2457 8

Copyright

© 1971 C. K. Graham

All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photo-copying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of Frank Cass and Company Limited in writing.

To the memory of My Father, The Rev. Charles Graham

Contents PREFACE

I

ix

••

EARLY EDUCATIONAL EFFORT 1600-1800

1

II EDUCATIONAL EXPANSION 1800--1850 III

IV V

VI VII VIII IX X XI XII

THE

RoLE OF ADMINISTRATORS, MISSIONS

21

CinEFs AND THE 39

FIRST ATTEMPTS AT AGRICULTURAL AND INDUSTRIAL TRAINING

59

GIRLS' EDUCATION AND TEACHER TRAINING BEFORE 1850

71

SoME CmEF FACTORS IN EDUCATIONAL ExPANSION 1850-1900

94

GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL EXPANSION 1850-1900

POLICY

IN

EDUCATIONAL 107

AGRICULTURAL, INDUSTRIAL AND VERNACULAR ING 1850-1900

TRAIN120

GIRLS' EDUCATION AND TEACHER TRAINING 1850-1900

131

HIGHER EDUCATION

139

NOTES ON TwENTIETH·CENTURY DEVELOPMENTS

EDUCATIONAL 150

CoNCLUSION

181

APPENDIX A TIME TABLE FOR A TYPICAL SCHOOL (ABOUT 1888) APPENDIX B SYLLABUS FOR THE 3

Rs

MONITORIAL

(1870)..

186 188

APPENDIX C TYPICAL SYLLABUS IN GEOGRAPHY, HISTORY AND ENGLISH (1800)

190

APPENDIX 0 PROSPECTUS OF THE CoLLEGIATE SCHOOL (19TH MARCH, 1876)

192

BmLIOGRAPHY

193

INDEX

213

vii

Preface The word " education " is used in many parts of Africa to refer to formal instruction in European~type schools. Those Africans who have been to school are said to be" educated"; all others-whether they have learnt some trade or not-are regarded as uneducated. This is clearly a restricted use of the word. Education in the wider sense of the term has always been an important factor in the way of life of the African. Parents and the wider circle of kinsmen consider it a sacred trust to discharge their obligations regarding the child's "socialisation". In fact, the entire community often takes part in it in various ways. Throughout 'the child's daily activitiesand later in his adolescence-he is made aware of the material and the spiritual fundamentals of social life. The customs, traditions and values of his community, as well as the world view and meaning of life are all " taught " to the growing child. At •the same time he attempts to take on more and more of the responsibilities and duties which fall to him. Thus, before the coming of Europeans, the peopie of the Gold Coast " educated " themselves. In a sense, their traditional education was fully capable of supplying the necessary elements to maintain the levels attained by their society in the economic, social, technical and cultural areas. However, over the years traditional education-although effective when it was simply a matter of handing down experience from generation to generation. when techniques were relatively simplecame to offer little possibility for progress in 1he assimilation and spread of new experiences and knowledge. Also, European states which ever since the Age of Discovery have cast about for new territories to conquer, Christianise or to exploit economically, appeared on the Gold Coast scene before the close of the fifteenth century, and brought with them the more formal Western type of education. My purpose in writing this book is to tell the story of the growth and development of European-type education in •the Gold Coast, from the beginning of her contact with European civilisation, up to Independence. African scholars have often expressed concern that European historians or visitors to Africa have usually given jaundiced accounts of the history of African societies, and that what the Europeans wrote about largely reflected their own feelings and thoughts. This book is an attempt to redress the balance, for I have tried to interpret and set down the facts from the standpoint of the African. I have tried also to show the relationship of education 1o other aspeots of social structure such as ·the economic, the religious and the political. ix

X

PREFACE

The vast literature concerning culture contact and social change in Africa tends to include some studies of the psychological factors. But the inter-personal processes that underlie relationships between Africans and Europeans are still too seldom analysed; and even where inoter-personal processes have been considered, for the most part the literature describes relatively impersonal, stereotyped and superficial transactions. In this book an attempt has been made to analyse some of the interrelations between the various ethnic, occupational and political groups that helped (either directly or indirectly) in the educational endeavours in the Gold Coast. I have also tried to draw attention to the crucial but often neglected fact that African teachers, catechists and ministers were the main channels through which ideas on education passed to the chiefs and people of the Gold Coast. I have tried to highlight the little known efforts of men like Joseph Smith, John Anderson, Amo, Capitein, Nkwantabisa, Philip Quaco, the Rev. Laing, David Asante, Attoh Ahumah-to mention only a few. A common charge often levelled against European educationists is that ;they have neglected the agricultural and industrial training of Africans in the Gold Coast. This charge is certainly unfair; and I have endeavoured to show that whatever their other objectives were, the European educationists tried to experiment and find out whaot curricula would offer the best balance between a vocational education designed to produce the skills required in the country, and a general education needed for cultural sophistication. In writing this book, I drew from many sources, including the archives in London of the Methodist Missionary Society, the Society for the Propagation of .the Gospel, and the Public Record Office. Amongs·t ·the libraries where I found most stimulating material are the Senate House Library of London University, the Royal Anthropological Society Library, the British Museum Newspaper Library, and the Library of the London School of Economics. I am most grateful to them all. I should like to acknowledge a particular debt of gratitude to Dr. P. T. W. Baxter of Manchester University, who opened up many new and fruitful lines of research to me. My grateful thanks are also extended to D. G. MacRae and E. Gellner-both Professors of Sociology at the London School of Economics, and the supervisors for my Ph.D. degree there-for their invaluable suggestions. I also have to thank my wife Esther for prodding me on c. K. GRAHAM to write this book. University of Science and Technology, Kumasi 1970

C..'HAPTER I

EARLY EDUCATIONAL EFFORT 1600-1800 Although Portuguese influence on the Gold Coast is seldom remembered today, Portugal was one of the first European countries to make an impact on the economic and educational life of the country. The Portuguese were probably the first to open a school there, their aim then being primarily to convert the people at Elmina1 to the Catholic faith. King John III had given instructions to the Governor at Elmina in 1529 " to provide reading, writing and religious teaching for African children ". 2 The medium of instruction was to be Portuguese; the teacher was to be paid 240 grains of gold a year for every pupil he taught, up to a maximum of fifteen. If the enrolment rose above that number he was to receive no higher remuneration, but if a pupil died or cut short his schooling, then the teacher was to receive a corresponding reduction in salary. 3 There are no available records to indicate the number of pupils and teachers in this school at this period, nor the progress the school made. It is probable, nevertheless, that only a handful of boys attended this school. A little over a century later-in 1637, in fact-when the Dutch seized the Elmina Castle, ·they restarted the school in the Castle. Their aims were similar to those of the Portuguese, for they too wanted to help the children who were " qualified " to learn to advance in the Christian faith! It is not clear what was meant by " qualified ". Perhaps the word refers either to children who had some sort of religious background or ·to children of mixed parentage. 5 The Dutch Charter of 1621 (renewed in 1640) had also given instructions for the setting up of " Christian schools " wherever they traded, in accordance with the teaching of the Dutch Reformed Church.6 It was hoped, therefore, 1hat the children from the school at Elmina, apart from advancing in .the Christian faith, would also become more and more favourably disposed to 1he Dutch authorities as well as accomplished in the Dutch language. Let us now examine the nature of British policy in the Gold Coast colony at this period, and their trading and commercial interests, in order to see the extent to which education was 1

2

THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN GHANA

influenced by these interests. There is little doubt that tmde and commerce sent the British to the Gold Coast. It was always taken for granted that some national advantage could be derived from trade and from prohibiting the export of slaves by other European powers.7 British participation in West African ,trade in the last decades of the 18th century involved mainly the business of Liverpool, Bristol and London trading houses. 8 The point is often made that the sole purpose of British presence in the Gold Coast prior to 1800 was to Christianise the Africans. This is not so. As Morel, a British historian, has put it: " it was commerce alone that sent the British and other European countries to the West Coast of Africa. Commerce was the 'fons and origo' of our presence there ".9 Morel considered that "as a nation we should gain much and lose nothing in frankly admitting to ourselves that our presence in West Africa was due neither to a desire to mend the ways of priestly theocracies, nor to alter the tyranny of the strong over the weak ... but the belief that West Africa constituted a vast outlet for the free and unfettered development of British trade, and an equally vast field for the cultivation of products of economic necessity to ourselves ".10 Of course, the British were not the only traders to the country during the three hundred-odd years that spanned the time of the earliest contact which the Gold Coast had with Europe and the beginning of the eighteenth century. The Fanti of Cape Coast and Anomabu, for instance, had for centuries trafficked with whiteswith the Normans, Portuguese, Spaniards, French and the Dutch -in rubber, pepper, gold, ivory and in fellow Africans, receiving in return rum, guns and gun powderY The main items of export were palm oil, ivory, guinea pepper, guinea grains, camwood, ebony, beeswax, gum copal, hides and gold dust.12 Governor White also observed that" Cape Coast was the emporium of trade, probably owing to the number of free traders residing in that town ".13 Cape Coast was the capital of the Gold Coast until 1877. However, despite the fact that trading activity took place throughout the eighteenth century, tmde and commerce appear to be amvng the neglected aspects of early Gold Coast social history. Their investigations are of paramount importance and basic to our understanding of the extent to which educated Africans were offered jobs in existing trading establishments in Fantiland, and therefore, to our understanding of Anglo-Fanti relations, especially regarding educational practices of the day. The urgent need for literate interpreters had induced the Royal African Company to set up a school at Cape Coast Castle in 1694, and John Chiltman was appointed its first teacher.a This school

EARLY EDUCATIONAL EFFORT

1600-1800

3

was shortlived. However, on his appointment to the chaplaincy at the Castle in 1712, the Rev. John Jameson resolved to open a " well qualified " school which would instil good principles into the young mulattoes and some of the blacks even, and would, therefore, serve the Company's interests.15 When Jameson died a year later his school became moribund. However, ,the school appears to have had a new head within a short time. A letter from one James Wenden, dated November 15, 1712, reported that his brother, Thomas Wenden," being appointed Chaplain by the African Company to their settlement at Cape Corso (Cape Coast) was willing to carry on a correspondence with the Society, if he could do them any service in those parts. To which end the said Company had desired Thomas Wenden to apply himself to the Society for some of the ' thoughtful realities ' which they gave to their poor, that he might dispose of them among the inhabitants and soldiers there ".16 After the Committee had considered Mr. Wenden's letter they decided that a "packet of the Society's books should be given to Mr. Wenden's brother who was going :to Cape Corso in Guinea, not exceeding the value of 40s.". 17 In the eighteenth century education was mainly a subsidiary funotion of the !Merchant Companies. The funds which helped to run the Royal African school were irregular. In 1794, for instance, the Committee in London contributed £60 towards the running of the Castle School at Cape Coast and the following year the contribution was £37.18 The Company also supplied text-books to the school. This practice was carried well into the nineteenth century. For example, on appointing Charles Williams to the headship of the Cape Coast Castle school in 1815, the Secretary to the African Committee instructed him to ,take delivery of the following: 100 Books No. 1; 100 National Society School Books, No. 2; 100 National Society School Books No. 3; 100 Sermon on the Mount; 100 Church Catechism, Psalters (100); Slates (20); Copper Plate Copies (20); Arithmetical Tables for Madras Schools (20); Sand Boards (6). A further supply was to be sent as the Governor and Council might report them to be required.18

One distinctive feature of early educational practice was that it mostly aimed to teach mulatto children. Ail this time," if the father of any person born in the country was an European, such a person was considered as having a better right or a stronger claim to be under European jurisdiction than ordinary natives ".20 And it should be explained also that before the twentieth century it was common practice for Europeans to leave their wives and children in

4

THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN GHANA

England-largely because of the enervating climate and its attendant fevers-and, on their arrival in the Gold Coast Colony, to marry African girls according to local custom. In the words of J. L. Wilson: " the number of white females was then very small, for they tended to suffer more from the climate than the men; and because they had less to engage their minds, they seldom became sufficiently interested in the country as to be willing to make it their home. It was not uncommon for European residents to form connections with native women of mixed blood, of whom there were many about the forts. In the course of time they found themselves surrounded with large families of mulatto children. Before a connection of that kind could be formed with a family pretending to respectability, the European bound himself to make provision for the support of the consort (as the temporary wife was called), and the children; and in case he left the country, these engagements as a general rule, were scrupulously and honourably fulfilled. "21 This Euro-African marriage was, nevertheless, not peculiar to the Gold Coast. It has been reported that in eighteenth century Senegal, for example, Europeans married Senegalese women. "When marriage according to Catholic rites was not possible or expedient, other methods were employed---celebrated with some formality, constituting family relationship of recognised status which often endured happily until the man returned to Europe.' 022 Here, too, the offspring were usually educated in Europe, ec>pecially in France. It was to the offspring of such mixed marriages that the early educationists turned their prime attention. And at that time, at Cape Coast for instance, a fund (known as the " Mulatto Fund ") was set up; towards this fund all resident Europeans were expected to make monthly contributions in proportion to their salary. The aim was to help to finance the education of the mulatto children, and to help support mulatto and African women by whom the resident Europeans had children. Of course, there were a few Africans who married European women. Philip Quaco, Jacobus Capitein and E. Andoh (a soldier at the Cape Coast Castle) were among such men. Their children, who, of course, were mulattoes, might also have profited from the schools. (Some mulatto names which have come to stay in the country are Brew, Smith, Hesse, Swanzy, Butler, Hanson, Gomez, Bartels and Quist.) It should be pointed out that, contrary to popular thinking, the emphasis placed on exclusive teaching of mulatto children was not

EARLY EDUCATIONAL EFFORT

1600-1800

5

very widespread. Thus, although the Castle school at Accra concentrated exclusively on teaching mula