Missionaries and mission schools: experiences of children (former learners)

Abstract

The introduction of formal schooling and learning was a new experience among children of indigenous people in South Africa. This came through missionaries as they introduced mission schools. Missionaries introduced mission schools in South Africa for a multiplicity of reasons such as converting blacks to Christianity, change of morality and standards of behaviour. Some of these reasons were covert (hidden) while others were overt (open). However, another perspective is that mission schools were, among other things, meant to indoctrinate indigenous people by, for example, using the scripture and civilisation. This article wishes to extrapolate the facts with regard to the above notion by reporting on the experiences of former learners (who were children then) of mission schools. They were identified and requested to participate in the research. Specific criteria were developed and used to obtain information from the respondents (former learners of mission schools). From the findings of the former learners, it emerged that mission schools attempted to indoctrinate learners through their aims and objectives. They also aimed to turn learners into conformists. A conclusion was drawn from this article.