At Last, We Know Who Brought Education to Ghana

Learning Objectives:

I will be trying very well to guide you through:

how education in Ghana begun
the nature of Ghana’s traditional system of education
the European missionaries and how they contributed to bringing western form of education to Ghana.

History Of Education In Ghana

It is believed that even before the “whites” brought their Western Form of Formal Education to Ghana, our forefathers already practised their own Traditional form of education. Click here to read more on education and its importance.

Let me ask you two critical questions 🤔:

?. What was the nature of the Traditional form of education practised by our great grand fathers?

?. What were some of the benefits of Traditional Education practised by our forefathers?

Features of the Traditional Form of Education:

Method : Observation / Imitation / Participation
Agencies : Home / Occasions / Religion / Community
Agents : Adults / Peer Groups
Scope : Moral / Social / Vocational / Physical / Intellectual

Benefits of the Traditional Form of Education:

to promote good health
to promote their culture
to produce ideal an man and woman
to teach the offsprings/descendants about industry and production

Western Form Of Education

a picture showing how formal education was introduced through castle schools in ghana — *introduction of formal education through castle schools. source: picryl*

Traders or Merchants from Europe brought Western Formal Education or the School System into Ghana which is commonly referred to as the Castle Schools. These traders came from different countries. They came into Ghana at different periods to transact business. The countries where these traders came from included Portugal, Holland, Britain, Denmark.

The Merchants/Traders:

Europeans traders came to Africa with the main objective of transacting commercial business with the our forefathers. They were dealing in gold, gunpowder, salt, diamonds and other valuable items. They came from countries like Portugal, Holland, Denmark etc.

Remember this:

It was the Portuguese who made the first attempt to establish formal education or build a school in Ghana. This happened somewhere in 1529 at Elmina.

But Why Did the People Who Came to Trade (Merchants) Now Decided to Build Schools and Introduce Formal Education to the Ghanaians they Came to Meet? 🤔

they wanted to educate Africans and their issues – issues here refers to the children they had with the African women. These children were commonly referred to as mulattoes.
they wanted to introduce Civilization and Christianity to the Africans
when they brought formal education to Africa, it helped them to train personnel to assist them in their trading activities

The Missionaries:

Apart from the Europeans who came to do business in Ghana, some of the whites also came in purposely to preach the gospel. These were called Missionaries.

The Missionaries also contributed immensely to education as they spread the Gospel across the length and breadth of the country.

What are some of the contributions made by the European Missionaries toward Education in Ghana?

The missionaries who came to Ghana are: