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The Birth of Education: Uncovering the story of the first school in Ghana

Who brought schooling to Ghana?

This is a common question most Ghanaians cheekily ask out of a bit of frustration by education. This short piece provides the answer.

The Gold Coast, from early descriptions by European traders, was made up of small, scattered villages. Upon the arrival of the Portuguese in 1471 in Shama and their subsequent travels along the Gold Coast, there was no report on the existence of a school.

It is without question that schooling was absent among indigenous African societies who occupied the areas identified as the Gold Coast. The formal education we have today was scarce in most of Europe during the period that commence the advent of Europeans on the Gold Coast. In Europe, many were schooled to develop the traits of a good Christian and an effective worker. Even as late as the 1800s, most Europeans were illiterate.

The Portuguese King, Joao III, ordered the Governor to teach reading and writing to African children. The first school in Ghana began in February 1529 in Elmina by the Portuguese in the Elmina Castle. King Joao III encouraged the chaplain to introduce Christianity through this medium and charged the chaplain at the castle with educating the African children.

 

Portrait of John attributed to Cristóvão Lopes, copy of a 1552 original by Anthonis Mor

The first school for African children started in the Elmina castle and lasted briefly. However, some promising African students were sent to learn reading, writing, and Portuguese culture to help facilitate relations between the Portuguese and the people of Elmina. Portuguese Christians were sent to Elmina in the 1570s under Philip I to provide religious education and care.

The history of formal education in Ghana is one of the oldest in West Africa. The teaching of Africans was primarily inspired by the trade and the desire to introduce Christianity to Africans.

Sources
Education in Ghana: History and Politics by Akwasi Kwarteng Amoako-Gyampah, Bea Lundt & Edmond Agyeman.

Gold Coast Mission History, 1471-1880. by Ralph M. Wiltgen

Written By

Stephen Baidoo is a writer who loves to research about Ghana's past. He brings Ghana's history to life with each unearthed fact and forgotten narrative, transforming dry dates into passionate stories.

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