(a) The castle schools produced notable Ghanaians such as Rev. Jacobus Captain, Prof. Anthony William Amo, Christian Protten, Rev. Philip Quaque, Joseph
Smith etc who contributed immensely to the development of education in the
Gold Coast and the West – African sub-region
(b) Again, the achievements of the notables mentioned above changed the perception of Europeans about Africans.
(c) The castle schools formed the beginning of western formal education in Ghana
(d) The castle schools introduced us to the concept of an organized system of education and schooling away from the home environment
(e) The castle schools indicated the need for a basic curriculum made up of Reading, Writing and Arithmetic (3Rs) which still form the core elements of our basic school curriculum as the three key essentials for literacy and numeracy acquisition.
(f) The castle schools introduced the concept of a full–time qualified teacher who has to be appointed to teach and such teachers were paid wages or salaries for their services.
(g) The castle school introduced the idea of sending promising pupils abroad for further studies eg. Jacobus Capitein, Christian Protten, Philip Quaque, Anthony William Amo etc.
(h) The Castle schools provided the needed personnel and teaching staff which quickened the missionary educational activities in the Gold Coast and West – Africa as a whole.
Problems / Challenges faced by castle school system
Let us turn our attention to the second segment of the lesson and try to identify some of the problems or challenges, which the castle schools faced. These are the following suggested points:
- Very few books were available for teaching except Bibles and this gave rise to too much religious orientation and liberal education rather than vocational or technical education.
- The school were limited to the coastal town and trading centers; enrolment did not spread beyond the castle environment.
- Low enrolment: enrolment in the castle schools never exceeded sixteen and there were times when there were no pupils at all.
- Financial Problem: The Schools had very little financial support from the castle administration and this affected their smooth running. Rev. Philip Quaque can be cited as an example; when he died in 1816 his own salary was in arrears to the tune of £369.
- Political Instability: There was general political instability along the coast of the Gold Coast and the areas into the hinterland there were frequent wars and this affected the progress of the schools eg. the Anglo – Dutch Wars, the Asante – Fante wars etc. scared many parents who otherwise would have sent their children to the schools. Parents became afraid and therefore kept their children at home and those who we attending school were prevented by their parents.
- Interference from the castle administrations; on many occasions the castle administrations tried to influence the running of the school eg. in 1791, Rev. Philip Quaque was suspended for refusing to take up arms and accompany Governor Field to defend the Anomabo fort. And again it is believed that one of the reasons for which Rev. Andreas Riis of the Basel Mission left the Charistianburg Castle for Akropong in 1835 was to get away from the controls of the Danish Castle authorities.