Church Teachers’ College:Mandeville

Name:

Markodan

ID #:

CH2013918

Lecturer: Sister Norma ThompsonCoursewor

k 1

THE EDUCAT

Content Page

Acknowledgement 1

Introduction 2-3Chapter 1

The Foundation in Education 4

The Church and the Forming of Schools 4

The Church and Training Teachers 5

The Church and Theological Education 6

The Church and University in Jamaica 6

The Church and its Roots of High Schools (Public and Private) 7

Chapter 2

Different Denominations which Contributed to Education in JamaicaThe Anglicans 7

The Catholics 7-8

The Baptists 8

The Methodists 8

The New Testament Church of God 8

The Church of God 9

The Moravians 9

The Seventh Day Adventist 9

Chapter 3

The Church and some of its Contribution in the CaribbeanThe Anglicans in Barbados 10

The Roman Catholics in Guyana 10-11

The Anglicans in Guyana 11

The Anglicans in Trinidad 11

Conclusion 12

TaskThe Church has made significant contribution to the development of Education in

Jamaica/Caribbean. Discuss.

Acknowledgement“Behind every dark cloud there is a silver lining” when I started to do this research I struggle to

find information, however due to my persistence in searching for information and with the help

of my lecturer I was able to find even more than what I needed. I first want to thank God for

without him I could have completed this research. He gave me strength to go on each day and it

was through is inspiration that I was able to put this research together.

I also want to thank my lecturer Miss Norma Thompson in assisting me as to how this

research should be conducted, and also to my class mates and hall mates who assisted me in

checking for accuracy and presentation ideas. I thank you all and may the blessings of the Lord

be continually upon you.

Introduction The church is a powerful institution which has contributed to development of our island for

centuries. This research aims to look at the church and its role in the Jamaica society and by

extension the Caribbean in education. In Jamaica a church is seen has a congregation body of

people who regularly assemble for religious service in a particular location while the church

consists of denominations which are made up of like-minded congregations who share an

administrative structure and are accountable for each other. Each different denomination

represents the collective Christian presence therefore they are the church and not any one

institution.

The church has for decades been the fore runners of education in Jamaica, facilitating the

education of children in basic, primary, high and even college/universities. It is a fact that the

church started some of the oldest Prep, High Schools and Colleges in Jamaica which has

provided quality education. The history of education in Jamaica is perhaps best understood in the

context of the island's colonial past. The education system and its administration were fashioned

after the British system; and many of the developments in the history of Jamaican education can

be seen as responses to events such as the abolition of slavery 1834, the advent of suffrage in

1944, and the achievement of independence in 1962. Much of the recent history of education in

Jamaica has been driven by the perceived need to develop home grown responses to economic,

social, and political pressures on the island and in the Caribbean region.

Before the Act of Emancipation went into effect in 1834 there appears to have been little

in the way of a formal education system for whites and no system for educating indigenous

people and slaves. White colonists who could afford it sent their sons back to the "mother

country" for schooling, while others hired private tutors. Those who were less affluent sent their

sons to one of the few free schools that were established through bequests from wealthy planters

and merchants. The curriculum in the free schools was based on that offered by similar schools

in Great Britain and was intended to offer a classical education to young gentlemen so that they

would be properly fitted to take their place in society. A few slave children received some

schooling at plantation schools established by foreign missionaries, but their education dealt

mostly with religion and the virtues of submission (Wilkins & Gamble 2000). At least some of

these plantation schools provided education for girls as well as boys.

Once slavery was abolished in 1834, the British saw education as an important way to

integrate ex-slaves into the colonial economy and to ensure a peaceful lower class. In the years

following emancipation, missionary societies developed a system of elementary education for the

newly freed slaves. This system was taken over by the colonial government beginning in the

1860s. Cogan and Thompson see the eventual government sponsorship of a system of secular

education as a response to the conflicts between propertied classes that led to the Morant Bay

Rebellion of 1865. Schooling emphasized skills that would prepare children for eventual

employment as estate workers. The elementary curriculum focused on reading, writing and

arithmetic with some religious training and occasional geography and history instruction. In

addition, boys were given training in agriculture and other manual arts, and girls received lessons

in sewing and domestic science. These separate tracks for boys and girls were formalized in the

Lumb Report of 1898 . The report emphasized the need for agricultural training in order to

counteract trends seen as threatening to the colonial economy and society: students were

developing distaste for manual labour and were moving from the countryside to the cities and

towns to take up clerkships and other similar occupations.

Education was essentially a religious matter, both in England and Jamaica, the jewel in

her crown, during the post emancipation era. The church undertook that responsibility because

education could then be used as a means of evangelism. Education was seen as a vehicle for

social control in that it was believed that educated persons were less likely to revolt and would

be more submissive and obedient to their masters as taught by some sections of the holy bible.

After the pre emancipation act the church overtook the task of educating freed gusto, providing

early-childhood education straight through to tertiary level education. It was through the training

of educators that the church impact education in a major way.

Chapter

1

The Foundation in EducationWhen children under six years old were set free in 1834, the Church established elementary

schools for those children and couple with the opportunities for the most successful students to

become teachers, represented a quality difference from what existed during slavery. By 1837 the

church had founded 183 elementary schools with enrolment of 12,580 pupils and 257 teachers.

(miller 1994). Between 1868-1999 the church was the major builder of elementary school. The

education law of 1892 allowed the government to have responsibility to establish board of

management, meet all expenditure and impose education tax to compensate for the abolishment

of student fees, however the church retain the rights to manage, own and partially maintain their

schools. It is no doubt that the church laid the foundation for quality elementary education which

delivered to the majority. Elementary is now considered as primary school and we are still seeing

the solid foundation that the church has on these institutions which enables them to produce

exceptional students into the High school system.

The Church and forming of schoolsIn the Jamaica schools were formally started by churches of different denomination, by

people of Europe were very enthusiastic to christanize the natives of the other lands, that they

planned to discover to spread the Roman Catholic version of Christianity. The pioneering role of

the Church is evident today as many basic, elementary, preparatory, and primary and secondary

schools were established by the Church. In case of the latter, we can point to many of our

traditional high schools in Jamaica such has Munro College, Jamaica College, St Hugh’s High

School, Immaculate Conception, Alpha Academy, St George’s College, Calabar High

School ,were all established and run by the church. In some cases the principals were required to

be priests or at least members of the denomination to which the school was affiliated. Tertiary

institutions, primarily teachers colleges, were also established by the Church. Base on the

evidence provided by historians we can say that the Church has made significant contribution to

education. And many religious leaders think this is how it ought to be, for the Bible obligates

churches to be much involved in education. The churches had vested interest in education as a

tool of evangelisation and social transformation. The assumption that drives the understanding is

that educated people have improved even superior potential for leadership development and

witnessing effectiveness.

The Church and the Training of TeacherThe church founded teacher trained education in Jamaica, when the Moravian established

a college in refuge, Trelawny in 1832. Four years later, the lady Mico charity, a Christian

charity, establish Mico. The church tried to alleviate the shortage of teachers by establishing

teacher train institutions, as done by thee Moravians establishing Fairfield in 1839; the Baptist

operating a teacher train component alongside Calabar theological college in1834 at Rio Bueno,

Trelawny. The Presbyterians establish a college in Montego Bay in 1851 but this was closed in

1877. There were decline of flow of teachers from England In 1846, due to the Negro Education

Grant. To counter this shortfall, the teachers college operated by the church filled this gap and

produced teachers for the classroom, a job they did more cost effectively than all other colleges.

By 1865, the entire teacher training was being conducted by the church as seen by the survival of

Mico. Fairfield, Calabar, the one established in Montego Bay by the Presbyterians, Bethlehem in

St. Elizabeth in 1861 under the auspices of the Moravians.

In 1885 the Shortwood teachers college was establish in St. Andrew by the Anglican

Church to train females. In 1899, the government withdrew all financial help to church colleges

that trained males and so it was no surprise when Fairfield closed in 1899 and Calabar in 1890.

St Joseph Teachers College, st Andrew started in 1897 by the Roman Catholics survive because

it was involved in training females. 53 years later the seventh day Adventist opened a teacher

trained department at West Indies College in Manchester in 1943 and the government opened

Moneague in 1956 in St. Ann; Sam Sharpe in 1975 in St. James and Passley in 1981 in Portland.

The church did not withdraw from erecting teachers colleges during the heyday of the

government’s construction of teachers colleges 1956-1981 but erected church teachers college in

1965 in Manchester through the Anglicans; in addition the Methodist excelsior college for a few

years offered teacher training. It is therefore true to say that during the period 1865-199 the

church was the leading provider of teacher training in Jamaica. It is recorded in 1891; elementary

school teachers formed the largest single occupation group of those categorize as professional’s

workers in the colony because education was the largest social service at that time.

The Church and Theological Education Theological education was also important and in 1843 the Baptist for Calabar theological

college to train blacks as pastors and missionaries. The united theological college of the West

Indies came into being in 1966 when Calabar united with St. Peters College in 1916 and union

theological seminary in 1954. UTCWI made it possible for locals to study for a theological

degree in the Caribbean instead of externally.

This degree qualified the graduates to play leading roles in college administration and

faculty, thereby replacing expatriates. From this other theological colleges were formed namely

the ; Jamaica theological seminary 1960, Caribbean graduate school of theology 1983, salvation

army school of theology 1887, Jamaica bible institute of the church of god, west indies college

1919,Jamaica bible college in 1945, St. Michael’s Seminary 1952, Jamaica Apostolic Bible

Institute, Caribbean Bible Institute, International University of Biblical Studies, Bethel Bible

College- New Testament Church of God 1943 and the institute for theological and leadership

development 1989. These theological centres have produced thousands of pastors who because

of their training have helped to facilitate community development through quality indigenous

leadership. By 1865 there were a cadre of 400 native church leaders who literate pastors thanks

to education.

The Church and University in JamaicaFew will know that it was a Baptist missionary serving in Spanish town James Phillippo

was the first person to propose the idea of a university later he was in establishing process of the

forming of the University of the West Indies. In addition the West Indies College founded by the

Seventh Day Adventist was converted into Northern Caribbean University which is the third

university in Jamaica, and has campuses in for different parishes. The church has facilitated

access for more persons to benefit from theological education and universities through her role in

the establishing of tertiary institutions. It’s interesting to note that by 1837 the church had

founded 183 elementary schools. By 1999, the church was still the major none government

agency in the elementary / primary school system being responsible for 256 of the 796 school.

The Church Roots of High School (Private, Public)Going back to the roots of our high school in 1911 the Church had Montego Bay

Academy, Wesleyan high school, york castle, St. Georges, Immaculate. Convent high,

Westwood high for girls and 12 deaconess home for girls, with enrolment of 938 the Church was

a major provider of high school education. The church also invested in independent schools, and

did establish ten independent schools in nine parishes. This was part of the church commitment

to education. These independents schools are owned and operated by the Seventh Day Adventist

who have deliberately stayed out of the public system and operate its institutions though fees and

voluntary contributions from the church. In addition the Roman Catholics operate a registered

independent high school, which evolved from St. Luke infant centre to St. Paul preparatory

school and eventually became St. Paul of the Cross High School. Since 1992 it caters for student

with special needs. The church manages 256 primary and all age schools, 38 high schools and 4

teacher colleges as at 1999, and 336 recognised basic schools.

Chapter 2

Different Denominations which Contribute to Education in Jamaica In order to understand the work of the church we are going to look at some of the

denominations that have made a delegable mark on the life’s of children in Jamaica. One of

those churches that have made great impact in the education sector of Jamaica is the Anglican

Church. The Church of England established itself in Jamaica 7 years after the capture of the

island by Admiral Penn and General Venables in 1655. It is the oldest continuous religious

presence on the island and has its historic centre at the Cathedral of St. Jago de la Vega in

Spanish Town. The Cathedral is itself, the oldest Anglican Church outside the British Isles. The

Anglican Church as it exists today is, however, the product of many upheavals. The church was

originally under control of Government, but due to problems of iniquity and profitability, this

control was released and the first Synod under new church law held in 1870.

The Anglican Church currently sponsors 79 basic schools, Although all primary

schools are run by the Government, the Church still owns a hundred and twelve (112) of the total

number. Twenty nine (29) of these schools are regarded as church schools while the remainder

are regarded as leased schools in that the Government is fully responsible for their upkeep. The

Church however still retains certain rights. The only schools completely owned and controlled by

the Church are nine preparatory schools. 11 high schools including many of Jamaica’s oldest and

the Church’s Teachers’ College in Mandeville.

The second such denomination which has made contribution to the education division of

Jamaica is the Catholics represent at least the longest and most complicated, and so only a short

sketch is provided here. Columbus dedicated the island to the Most Holy Trinity when he landed

here in 1494; shortly after, the Spanish Crown gave the island as a gift to Columbus. His son,

Diego, ordered built the first Catholic Church in 1510 at St. Ann’s Bay. Following the capture of

Jamaica by the British in 1655, the Catholic Church was banned from the island. 137 years later,

in 1792, the church was allowed to return. The Catholic Church maintains a strong presence in

the island’s education system with 3 infant schools, 21 primary schools, 21 basic schools, 12

prep schools, 6 all-age schools, 10 high schools, and the teachers’ colleges, St. Joseph’s and the

Franciscan College. Through their food for poor foundation they also provide school supplies to

children during back to school functions.

Seen has one of the least among the pack The Baptist presence in Jamaica began in 1783

when George Liele, a 'free black slave' from Atlanta, Georgia, came to preach in Kingston.

Sixty-six years and much missionary work later, the Jamaica Baptist Union was founded at

Falmouth, Trelawny in 1849. In the interim, three of Jamaica’s most prominent Baptist

missionaries James Phillippo, Thomas Burchell, and William Knibb founded the Calabar

Theological College in Rio Bueno. In 1868, the College moved to East Queen Street in Kingston

where it grew to encompass a teacher training school and, in 1912, the boys’ high school that is

well known today. Today Calabar high provides universities and colleges with some the best

applicants in tertiary education. They sponsor over 50 basic schools and three high schools

namely William Knibb, Calabar and Westwood High School for Girls.

The Methodist Church began its history in Jamaica in 1789 with the arrival of Dr.

Thomas Coke in Port Royal. Coke, whose trip was almost cut lethally short by drunk and violent

Kingstonians, persevered and today the Coke Memorial Chapel, is named in his honour.

Methodists have traditionally been, and continue to be heavily involved in education. The

Church currently supports 31 basic schools and 16 primary schools. 4 secondary schools namely

St. Andrew High School for Girls, Excelsior High School, York Castle High School, and Morant

Bay High School are Methodist. And finally, the church supports 2 vocational tertiary

institutions.

The New Testament Church of God is one of Jamaica’s larger Pentecostal churches. It is

independent of the United Pentecostal Church. The church was born of the wider evangelical

movement that took place in the early 20th century on the island. Its founding occurred in 1917

when J. Wilson Bell, a local Kingston preacher, established a relationship with the Church of

God headquarters in the southern American state of Tennessee. The church supports 57 basic

schools across the island. In association with HEART/National Trust Association, the Church of

God helps run 3 vocational training centres in Johns Hall in St. James, Spalding’s in Manchester,

and Middle Quarters in St. Elizabeth.

The Church of God not to be confused with the New Testament Church of God is a

Jamaican church founded by the missionary couple the Rev. George and Mrs. Nellie Olson in

1907. In 1927, Mrs. Olson began a school on High Holborn Street in Kingston. With the

funding of the church, the small school was relocated 2 years later and the Ardenne School

created. The school remains one of the island’s premier high schools. In addition to the high

school, the church also maintains a leadership training institute on Brumalia Road in Mandeville

and many of the churches now owned their private basic schools.

The Moravian Church, or the Unitas Fratum, is an ancient Protestant denomination that

predates Martin Luther. The Moravians came to Jamaica in 1754 and pioneered the primary

education of the island’s people. The Church, which continues to be active in education,

oversees over 50 schools and maintains the Bethlehem Moravian College at Malvern, St.

Elizabeth.

The seventh day Adventist is another denomination which has played a vital role in

education development in central Jamaica, formerly know has west indies college, Northern

Caribbean University has impact the life’s of many Jamaicans who pass through its doors not

only giving them knowledge for lifelong learning but also a Christian structure type environment

then enable spiritual growth . The Adventist now has a Book and Nutrition Centre, along with

seven high schools and 17 preparatory schools.

Chapter 3

The Church and its contribution in other Caribbean CountriesThe Anglican Church in Barbados has been very active in education within the island.Its

contribution started with the early parish schools, administered by the vestries, but with the

Church playing a minimal role in the execution of the education offered. Education offered in

these schools was restricted to the three R's (reading, writing and arithmetic) but writing was not

extended to the slaves, except those on the Codrington estates in St. John. Schools for slaves

were few at first, though this improved during the early episcopate of Bishop Coleridge.

The first Bishop, William Hart Coleridge, contributed immensely to the development of

education in Barbados. The promotion of education was his special concern, the number of

schools increasing from eight to eighty three during his episcopate. The number of children

receiving education in them increased from five hundred (500) to seven thousand (7000).

Coleridge also reorganized the Codrington Grammar School so that it became in 1830 a training

establishment for clergy and others as had been intended by its founder, Christopher Codrington.

The Grammar School was transferred to the Chaplain's Lodge, from which the School later took

its name. Bishop Coleridge's action assisted in the increase in numbers of clergy from fifteen

(15) to thirty one (31) during his tenure.

The church also introduce one of the first programme of teacher education in the

Caribbean, under Richard Rawle a Principal of Codrington College, who in 1847 undertook to

organize lectures during the College vacations for persons engaged in teaching. This continued

until he demitted office in 1864. The Rawle Institute, established in 1912 by the Rev A.H

Antsey, a principal of Codrington College and named after Richard Rawle, remained the training

institution for teachers in the Eastern Caribbean until it was replaced by the opening of Erdiston

College in 1948.

In Guyana the Roman Catholics initially established schools for the Portuguese. In 1838,

Dr. William Clancy, of the Roman Catholic Church, outlined his plan to send six ecclesiastics,

three school masters and three school mistresses, for educating the population, and also to

construct three school buildings in each county. By 1841, six nuns of the Sisters of Presentation

arrived in the colony to open a day school and a boarding school. In 1847, the Ursuline Convent

School was established. By 1866, the Roman Catholic Church established St. Stanislaus

College boys’ schools. In 1897, the St. Joseph High school for girls was established by the

Sisters of Mercy. In 1824, the St. George’s free school was established, under the aegis of the

Anglican Church. The school was conducted separately for boys and girls. Another Anglican

school, All Saints was established in New Amsterdam, Berbice, in 1829. In 1851, Bishop’s

College was launched with the support of the S.P.C.K. It was established for the training of

theological students and the general training of teachers. The Methodists, Presbyterians, and the

Anglicans established schools for the Indians.

The planter Quintin Hogg supported the Anglican Church in Guyana, in the erection of a

series of buildings of a chapel-school combination in Essequibo and Demerara. One such

chapel-school building was erected at Bel-Air, on the East Coast of Demerara in 1873.Apart

from the training institutes, estates’ schools, parochial schools and the orphan asylum, there were

also private nursery schools, and special evening schools both in Demerara and Berbice. There

was evening or night schools at Nismes on the West Bank of Demerara, at Lusignan, Annandale,

Enmore and Clonbrook. In addition, Indian immigrants received instruction at the Kingston

Coolie School, and at the Church of Scotland at Lochaber in Berbice.

The Anglican Church commits itself to the education of our charges in the academics,

vocational skills and ecumenism beyond the limits of the Church. The Church in the Diocese of

Trinidad and Tobago is responsible for sixty-one (61) primary schools, one (1) Special School

and nine (9) secondary schools. Schools are managed through the Anglican Education Board of

Management, the Bishop Anstey Association, and the Trinity College Board of Governors.

ConclusionMade up of different denominations but one foundation, at first the aims of the church in

education was to Christianise persons and say this as a means of evangelising however this soon

became the job of the church to teach has to provide a whole complete profession who has

his/her ties to religion. They were the first to introduce aspect of teacher training, theological

training, and university in Jamaica. Therefore with this in mind we can say that the church has

contributed significantly to the development of education in Jamaica by initiating different

programs. They have not only contributing to the establishing of schools in Jamaica but also in

the Caribbean. Their impact has seen traditionally own schools performing at the top of the

education rem producing exceptional professionals. They were not only involved in establishing

of some of Jamaica top primary and high school but did establish colleges which are a force to be

recon with in the Caribbean and world by large. They also contributed to development of morals

and values in the society by forming theological institutions which certified pastors, priest,

ministers etc. This also help them to contribute to their own development has an institution.

Therefore we can conclude that the establishing of elementary/primary, high schools, theological

and teacher training institutions, universities were made possible through different types of

contributions of the church and its role in the development of society in Jamaica and the

Caribbean. It can be seen now more than ever has many churches today have their own basic

schools, and the standards displayed by these children and also of those that go to Christian

institutions are shown across the board has they not only perform well but develop into better

man and women for nations future.

ReferenceThe Anglican Diocese of Jamaica & the Cayman Islands, History; A Proud Heritage.

Retrieved from:

http://www.anglicandiocesejamaica.com/content/schools/school_history.html

Hall, B (2003). Few church schools since Independence, The Jamaica Gleaner. Retrieved

from: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20030429/mind/mind2.html

Ecclesiastical + Religious (n/d). diG; The Gleaner. Retrieved from:

http://www.digjamaica.com/ecclesiastical_religious

Tracing the History of Private Education in Guyana, Guyana Times international; the

beacon of truth. Retrieved from: http://www.guyanatimesinternational.com/

History of the Anglican Church in Barbados; The Anglican Church of Barbados.

Retrieved from: http://www.anglican.bb/hist

Jamaica - History & Background, Net industries. Retrieved from:

http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/725/Jamaica-HISTORY-

BACKGROUND.html

Dick, D (2004), Rebellion to Riot, Kingston, Ian Randle Publishers.