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THE ROLE OF MISSIONARIES IN DEVELOPMENT OF EDUCATION IN AFICA

BEFORE 1920

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION FOUNDATIONS, KENYATTA UNIVERSITY

EFN 112: HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF EDUCATION

DR. WASILWA, WANYAMA

28TH APRIL, 2022

GROUP 24 MEMBERS.

1. KENGA SHUKRANI E35/1468/2020

2. MURULI OWEN E35/2306/2021

3. MULONGO JUDE E35/2069/2021

4. CLAUDIAS NYAKERARIO E35/2441/2021

5. ONDIEKI BOSIBORI E35/0525/2021

6. OGUTA ACHIENG E35/0475/2021

7. MUNEE SAUMU E35/2102/2021

8. FAITH NASIALI E41/0074/2021

9. DUNCAN OKOTH E41/3168/2021

10. ERICA MORARA E35/2444/2021

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THE ROLE OF MISSIONARIES IN DEVELOPMENT OF EDUCATION IN AFICA

BEFORE 1920

Introduction

Missionaries are among the earliest explorers to come to the continent Africa. Missionary work

began in the early 19th century. The 19th century is a very critical period in Africa since it’s the

period where the missionary activities were at climax.. Kenyan communities particullarly had

their own systems of education before the advent of colonialism (Storold, 1960). Hewith (1942)

observed that missionary operations began at the Kenyan coast around 1883 and gradually

moved to the hinterland. The first Christian missionaries to come to Africa were the Portuguese

who first came in east Africa and worked at coast of Kenya in the 16th and 17th century. Okoth

(2000) asserted that missionaries initially focused on eliminating slave trade and rehabilitating

freed slaves and gradually began spreading Christianity at the East African Coast. They

abolished slave trade and in 1874 they settled central schools, elementary schools and industrial

training. The missionaries aimed at converting their pupils to Christianity and ensuring their

converts had a Christian environment in which the aspects of western education were taught.

The missionaries together with the colonial government introduced the formal or western form of

education in Africa, which involved reading and writing unlike the African indigenous education

which lacked literacy skills. European missionaries therefore contributed greatly to the

development of education in Africa. They had their own distinct reasons for further education

which we are going to discuss in this research paper.

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Missionaries were important factor in promoting economic change in Africa. They introduced

and encouraged the use of foreign products like clothing and tea among others which

undermined the former self-sufficiency of the subsistence economy. This brought Africans more

and more into the market economy.

Many missionaries did act as informants by supplying information to government officials.

Missionaries were able to correct misinformation about Africans and their society being spread

in the white community.

Missionaries did see themselves in the role of integrating Africans into the social, economic and

even political aspects of the colonial society evolving in the cape colony and south Africa.

Missionaries continued to be the main providers of education even after colonial powers

established control during the scramble for Africa which occurred between 1884-1914. This

influenced greatly in the development of education by the missionaries in Africa.

In western Africa missionaries established castle schools with Sierra Leone a freed Slaved

settlement became the center of education activities in west Africa. Early mission schools

emphasized religion so much that Africans deemed them “prayer houses” (Mwiandi, 1993). This

contributed greatly to the development of education in Africa before 1920.

Schools were deemed important. They provided missionaries a way to spread the Eurocentric

norms and attracts new converts. This made missionaries to have a lasting impact beyond their

early years and hence further the development of education in Africa.

Post standard six boys were trained in carpentry and girls in housecraft and needlework as early

as 1912 at St. Paul mission school in Taung. The aim of the mission schools was to facilitate

cooperation between boys and girls, as school children in preparation of their roles as adult
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citizens. High moral values and leadership were inculcated in those schools so that learners could

be exemplary.

Roman catholic (1890) established stations in Mombasa. SDA set up missions at Kamugambo

and Nyanchwa (1902). The aim was to evangelize African people and believed schools would

enable Africans to read and understand the bible. This led to further development of education in

Africa.

Missionaries established Fourah Bay Teachers college in 1827 in Sierra Leone becoming the

oldest testimony institution in Africa. The aim was to train teachers and equip them with the

relevant literacy skills they need to teach the pupils hence facilitating the development of

education in Africa.

In the 1860s in east Africa, the holy ghost fathers opened schools in Zanzibar targeting slaves,

trials transferred to Bagamoyo. Universities mission to central Africa and Anglican high church

missionary society started similar education institutions all this in attempt to further the

education in Africa.

The need to educate Africans to help in the colonial administration led to development of

education by the missionaries. The educated Africans would act as local administration clerks for

the colonial government.

In 1908 the great pan African congress was held in England and one of the outcomes of the

meeting was that the church of England contributed money for educating African converts.

Through this we see the establishment of many schools as the Africans were willing to give their

lands for construction of missions and also provided free and cheap labor therefore leading to

development of education in Africa.

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Through formal education, the European missionaries inculcated the values of European

civilization in the minds of Africans. They also used schools as rehabilitation centers for freed

slaves as well as translating portions of the bible into African dialects.

The missionaries needed to open schools since the education provided went hand in hand with

evangelization. This led to further development of education to Africa by the missionaries.

The demand for Africans to be educated so as to analyze the complexity problems of African

native education. This led to construction of more stations for pupils to be taught the western for

of education which shaped the destiny of the continent to date.

Conclusion

In conclusion, its evident that although there existed the African indigenous education before the

coming of the Europeans, the coming of the Europeans in the 19th century which include the

missionaries and colonies, shaped the destiny of the continent to date. For example, the

introduction of western form of education brought more positive impacts to the Africans not to

mention abolishment of slave trade and introduction of Christianity among other positive

impacts.

References

Hewith, G. (1942) The problems of success: A history of the

church missionary society 1910-1942. London: Oxford

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University Press, 1942.

Mwiandi, M. (1993). The role of African Evangelists and

Teachers in the Development of Western Education and

Christianity in Nithi Division of Meru District of Kenya 1907-

1960. (Unpublished Masters thesis). University of Nairobi,

Nairobi.

Okoth, A. (2000) A history of Africa: African Societies and

establishment of colonial rule 1802-1915. Nairobi: East Africa

Education Publishers.

Storold, K. E. (1960). The CMS in Kenya: The Coast 1884-

1944. London: Longman Press