The Salem School, Osu, or the Osu Presbyterian Boys’ Boarding School or simply, Osu Salem, formerly known as the Basel Mission Middle School'','' is an all boys’ residential

middle Middle or The Middle may refer to: * Centre (geometry), the point equally distant from the outer limits. Places * Middle (sheading), a subdivision of the Isle of Man * Middle Bay (disambiguation) * Middle Brook (disambiguation) * Middle Creek ...

junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Aircraft * Ekolot JK-05L Junior, a Polish ultralight aircraft * PZL-112 Junior, a Polish training aircraft * SZD-51 Junior, a Polish-made training and club glider Arts and entertainment Characters * Bowser Jr., ...

secondary school located in the suburb of Osu in

Accra Accra (; or ''Gaga''; ; Ewe: Gɛ; ) is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , had a population of ...

, Ghana. The Salem School was the first middle school and the first boarding school to be established in

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

. The school was founded under the auspices of the

Basel Mission The Basel Mission is a Christianity, Christian missionary society based in Switzerland. It was active from 1815 to 2001, when it transferred the operative work to , the successor organization of ''Kooperation Evangelischer Kirchen und Missione'' ...

in 1843 and supervised by three pioneering

missionaries A missionary is a member of a religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Miss ...

and

schoolmaster A schoolmaster, or simply master, is a male school teacher. The usage first occurred in England in the Late Middle Ages and early modern period. At that time, most schools were one-room or two-room schools and had only one or two such teacher ...

s, Jamaican, Alexander Worthy Clerk and Angolan-born Jamaican Catherine Mulgrave together with the German-trained

Americo-Liberian Americo-Liberian people (also known as Congo people or Congau people),Cooper, Helene, ''The House at Sugar Beach: In Search of a Lost African Childhood'' (United States: Simon and Schuster, 2008), p. 6 are a Liberian ethnic group of African Am ...

George Peter Thompson George Peter Thompson (1819–1889) was a Liberian-born educator, clergyman and pioneer missionary of the Basel Evangelical Missionary Society of Switzerland. He was also the first African to be educated in Europe by the mission and subsequent ...

History

On 27 November 1843, an English language Christian school, ''The Salem School'' was established at Osu by missionaries affiliated to the Basel Evangelical Missionary Society of

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

, Switzerland. Per the account of German

church historian Church history or ecclesiastical history as an academic discipline studies the history of Christianity and the way the Christian Church has developed since its inception. Henry Melvill Gwatkin defined church history as "the spiritual side of th ...

, Hans Werner Debrunner, the founders of the school were the missionaries

West Indian A West Indian is a native or inhabitant of the West Indies (the Antilles and the Lucayan Archipelago). According to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED''), the term ''West Indian'' in 1597 described the indigenous inhabitants of the West In ...

s, Alexander Worthy Clerk and Angolan-born Catherine Mulgrave of

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

in addition to the German-educated

George Thompson. A decade and a half earlier, four

aries of

European European, or Europeans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe and other West ...

heritage had arrived in the Danish Protectorate of Christiansborg in the Gold Coast. They were Germans, Karl F. Salbach, Gottlieb Holzwath and Johannes Henke as well as Swiss-born Johannes Gottlieb Schmidt who died from tropical diseases within a few months of their arrival. The Jamaican founders were among 24

missionaries recruited by the Danish minister, the Rev.

Andreas Riis Andreas Riis (12 January 1804 – 13 January 1854) was a Danish minister and pioneer missionary who is widely regarded by historians as the founder of the Gold Coast branch of the Basel Evangelical Missionary Society. A resident of the Gold ...

in 1843. In nineteenth century colonial Ghana, ''Salem'' referred to the section of town inhabited by the European Christian missionaries of the

African Christian Christianity arrived to Africa in the 1st century AD; as of 2024, it is the largest religion on the continent. Several African Christians influenced the early development of Christianity and shaped its doctrines, including Tertullian, Perpetua, ...

converts also lived in the Salem quarter. The concept of having a living quarters and a school was replicated in other towns on the Gold Coast including

Akropong Akropong is a town in South Ghana and is the capital of the Akuapim North District, a district in the Eastern Region of South Ghana. This town is known for producing snails and palm oil.

, Abokobi,

Peki Peki is a town in the South Dayi District in the Volta Region of Ghana. It comprises eight subtowns, each with a subchief - Tsame, Avetile, Afeviwofe, Blengo, Dzake, Wudome, Dzobati and Adzokoe. All of these subchiefs swear allegiance to a param ...

, La,

Teshie Teshie is a coastal town in the Ledzokuku Municipal District, a district in the Greater Accra Region of southeastern Ghana. Teshie is the ninth most populous settlement in Ghana, with a population of 171,875 people. Politics Teshie is in t ...

, Odumase,

Ada Foah Ada Foah is a town on the southeast coast of Ghana, where the Volta River meets the Atlantic Ocean. The town is located along the Volta River, off of the Accra- Aflao motorway. Known for palm-lined beaches and estuary islands, Ada Foah is also t ...

, Kibi,

Abetifi Abetifi is a small town in south Ghana and is the capital of Kwahu East District, Kwahu East district, a Districts of Ghana, district in the Eastern Region (Ghana), Eastern Region of south Ghana. Climate References External links

P ...

, Nsaba among others. The inaugural class of the school, made up of 41 pupils (34 boys and 7 girls), was taken from the

Danish language Danish (, ; , ) is a North Germanic languages, North Germanic language from the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family spoken by about six million people, principally in and around Denmark. Communities of Danish speakers are a ...

''Christiansborg Castle School''. The Christiansborg Castle School was a sister school of the ''Cape Coast Castle School'' that was established by the

Anglican priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

, the Reverend Thompson and the

Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts United Society Partners in the Gospel (USPG) is a United Kingdom-based charitable organisation (registered charity no. 234518). It was first incorporated under Royal Charter in 1701 as the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Pa ...

(SPG) affiliated to the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

. Danish was the medium of instruction at the Christiansborg School. The castle schools were established by the European Governors to educate the Euro-African

mulatto ( , ) is a Race (human categorization), racial classification that refers to people of mixed Sub-Saharan African, African and Ethnic groups in Europe, European ancestry only. When speaking or writing about a singular woman in English, the ...

children of European men and Gold Coast

African women The culture, evolution, and history of women who were born in, live in, and are from the continent of Africa reflect the evolution and History of Africa, history of the African continent itself. Numerous short studies regarding women's history i ...

for eventual employment as

Administrative Assistant A person responsible for providing various kinds of administrative assistance is called an administrative assistant (admin assistant) or sometimes an administrative support specialist. In most instances it is identical to the modern iteration of th ...

s in the colonial civil service. In 1850, the British authorities bought the fort and castle belonging to the Danish authorities. Danish was no longer the

lingua franca A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, link language or language of wider communication (LWC), is a Natural language, language systematically used to make co ...

Christiansborg Christiansborg Palace (, ) is a palace and government building on the islet of Slotsholmen in central Copenhagen, Denmark. It is the seat of the Danish Parliament (), the Danish Prime Minister's Office, and the Supreme Court of Denmark. Also, ...

and the

English-language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...

''Salem School'' became the school of choice for the residents of the

British colony A Crown colony or royal colony was a colony governed by England, and then Great Britain or the United Kingdom within the English and later British Empire. There was usually a governor to represent the Crown, appointed by the British monarch on ...

. The school faced many challenging periods in the early years. The

transferred Alexander Worthy Clerk in 1849 to Akropong to establish a similar ''Salem School'' there. When the locals of Osu refused to pay a poll-tax imposed by the British administration in 1854, colonial forces bombed the town using the warship, "''H.M. Scourge''" for two days which destroyed the existing infrastructure of the school and many private homes. As a result, the school together with the local Christian community in Osu relocated to Abokobi on the outskirts of the Ghanaian capital, Accra. By 1957, the original premises had been renovated and the school returned to Osu. The layout of the ''Salem School'' was a quadrangle surrounded by student dormitories, classrooms, the headmaster's quarters and teachers’

bungalow A bungalow is a small house or cottage that is typically single or one and a half storey, if a smaller upper storey exists it is frequently set in the roof and Roof window, windows that come out from the roof, and may be surrounded by wide ve ...

s. This architectural style ensured close supervision of pupils by the school authorities. The school maintained a disciplinary code which was strictly enforced. The code pertained to all spheres of school life including infractions such as lateness to class, disrespect, untidiness and absenteeism. In the Gold Coast era, the four-year school curriculum included instruction in the

Ga language Ga is a Kwa language spoken in Ghana, in and around the capital Accra, by the Ga people. There are also some speakers in Togo, Benin and western Nigeria. It has a phonemic distinction between three vowel lengths. Classification Ga is a Kw ...

and English. The development of the Ga curriculum was led by Johannes Zimmerman and Gold Coast historian, Carl Christian Reindorf who were influential in the translation of the Bible into the

. Reindorf wrote '' The History of the Gold Coast and Asante'' which was published in 1895. Johannes Gottlieb Christaller worked on the translation of the Bible into the Twi language while Westermann translated the Bible into the

Ewe language Ewe (''Eʋe'' or ''Eʋegbe'' ) is a language spoken by approximately 5 million people in West Africa, mainly in Ghana and Togo. Ewe is part of a group of related languages commonly called the Gbe languages. The other major Gbe language is F ...

. Other subjects taught included English and

Vernacular Vernacular is the ordinary, informal, spoken language, spoken form of language, particularly when perceptual dialectology, perceived as having lower social status or less Prestige (sociolinguistics), prestige than standard language, which is mor ...

(Ga),

Arithmetic Arithmetic is an elementary branch of mathematics that deals with numerical operations like addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. In a wider sense, it also includes exponentiation, extraction of roots, and taking logarithms. ...

Geography Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...

, History, Religious Knowledge,

Nature study The nature study movement (alternatively, Nature Study or nature-study) was a popular education movement that originated in the United States and spread throughout the English-speaking world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Nature study ...

Hygiene Hygiene is a set of practices performed to preserve health. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), "Hygiene refers to conditions and practices that help to maintain health and prevent the spread of diseases." Personal hygiene refer ...

Handwriting Handwriting in Italian schools (XXth - XXIst century) Handwriting is the personal and unique style of writing with a writing instrument, such as a pen or pencil in the hand. Handwriting includes both block and cursive styles and is separa ...

and Music. Training in

the arts The arts or creative arts are a vast range of human practices involving creative expression, storytelling, and cultural participation. The arts encompass diverse and plural modes of thought, deeds, and existence in an extensive range of m ...

and

craft A craft or trade is a pastime or an occupation that requires particular skills and knowledge of skilled work. In a historical sense, particularly the Middle Ages and earlier, the term is usually applied to people occupied in small scale pr ...

s was integral to the school curriculum:

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other raw materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. The place where such wares are made by a ''potter'' is al ...

, carpentry,

basket A basket is a container that is traditionally constructed from stiff Fiber, fibers, and can be made from a range of materials, including wood splints, Stolon, runners, and cane. While most baskets are made from plant materials, other materials ...

and mat weaving. Daily church attendance and Sunday service at the Basel Mission Church (now

Ebenezer Presbyterian Church, Osu The Ebenezer Presbyterian Church, formerly known as the Basel Mission Church, Christiansborg, is a historic Protestant church located in the suburb of Osu in Accra, Ghana. The church was founded by the Basel Evangelical Missionary Society in 18 ...

) were required of all enrolled pupils. In 1884, there were organisational reforms introduced by the new inspector of education for the

schools,

the Reverend The Reverend (abbreviated as The Revd, The Rev'd or The Rev) is an honorific style (form of address), style given to certain (primarily Western Christian, Western) Christian clergy and Christian minister, ministers. There are sometimes differen ...

Auer which streamlined the concept of the four-year middle boarding school. The educational model of the ''Salem School'' at Osu was the most rigorous in the Gold Coast colony until the introduction of the Accelerated Education Plan in 1951 by

Kwame Nkrumah Francis Kwame Nkrumah (, 21 September 1909 – 27 April 1972) was a Ghanaian politician, political theorist, and revolutionary. He served as Prime Minister of the Gold Coast (British colony), Gold Coast from 1952 until 1957, when it gained ...

for the rapid expansion of access to education on the Gold Coast and later modern

. In the colonial era, the school's alumni went on to become leaders in law, politics,

public service A public service or service of general (economic) interest is any service intended to address the needs of aggregate members of a community, whether provided directly by a public sector agency, via public financing available to private busin ...

, business, medicine, finance, engineering, artisanal craft and several other fields.

Learning environment

Currently, the school offers a 3-year (9-term) basic curriculum according to the

Ghana Education Service The Ghana Education Service (GES) is a government agency under the Ministry of Education responsible for implementing government policies that ensure that Ghanaians of school-going age irrespective of their ethnicity, gender, disability, religio ...

syllabus and preparing pupils for the

Basic Education Certificate Examination The Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) is the main examination to qualify students for admission into secondary and vocational schools in Ghana, and Nigeria. It is written after three years of junior secondary education. It is administ ...

(BECE) conducted by the

West African Examination Council The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) is an examination board established by law to determine the examinations required in the public interest in the English-speaking West African countries, to conduct the examinations and to award certi ...

. The subjects taught include languages including English, French, Ghanaian languages such as Ga and

Twi Twi (; ) is the common name of the Akan literary language of Asante and Akuapem. Effectively, it is a synonym for 'Akan' that is not used by the Fante people. It is not a linguistic grouping, but more of a common name used by inland Akans as ...

, mathematics, natural science, social studies, religious and moral education, basic design and technology (

home economics Home economics, also called domestic science or family and consumer sciences (often shortened to FCS or FACS), is a subject concerning human development, personal and family finances, consumer issues, housing and interior design, nutrition and f ...

graphics Graphics () are visual images or designs on some surface, such as a wall, canvas, screen, paper, or stone, to inform, illustrate, or entertain. In contemporary usage, it includes a pictorial representation of the data, as in design and manufa ...

& pre-technical skills),

information and communications technology Information and communications technology (ICT) is an extensional term for information technology (IT) that stresses the role of unified communications and the integration of telecommunications (telephone lines and wireless signals) and computer ...

(ICT) and

physical education Physical education is an academic subject taught in schools worldwide, encompassing Primary education, primary, Secondary education, secondary, and sometimes tertiary education. It is often referred to as Phys. Ed. or PE, and in the United Stat ...

Past principals

The following individuals were headmasters of the school:

Notable teachers

* Gottlieb Ababio Adom, educator, journalist, editor and Presbyterian minister * Alexander Worthy Clerk – Jamaican Moravian missionary and teacher *

Carl Henry Clerk Carl Henry Clerk (4 January 1895 – 28 May 1982) was a Ghanaian agricultural educationist, administrator, journalist, editor and church minister who was elected the fourth Synod Clerk of the Presbyterian Church of the Gold Coast, assuming t ...

, educator, administrator, journalist, editor and Presbyterian minister * Catherine Mulgrave, Angolan-born Jamaican pioneer woman educator, administrator and missionary *

Emmanuel Charles Quist Sir Emmanuel Charles Quist, also known as Paa Quist (21 May 1880, in Christiansborg, Accra – 30 March 1959) was a barrister, educator and judge who served as the first Speaker of the Gold Coast Legislative Assembly and the first Speaker of ...

, barrister, judge and the first African President of the Legislative Council and first Speaker of the Parliament of Ghana * Carl Christian Reindorf, historian and Basel Mission pastor *

, first African Basel missionary * Johannes Zimmermann, German missionary and philologist

Notable alumni

* Gottlieb Ababio Adom, educator, journalist, editor and Presbyterian minister *

Ebenezer Akuete Ebenezer Amatei Akuete (born 8 December 1935) is a Ghanaian diplomat and economic consultant. He served as Ghana's Ambassador to the United States of America from January 1982 to December 1982. Early life and education Akuete was born on 8 De ...

, former Ghanaian diplomat * L.J. Chinery-Hesse, parliamentary draftsman, Solicitor-General and Acting Attorney General (1979) *

, educator, administrator, journalist, editor and Presbyterian minister *

George C. Clerk George Carver Clerk, (29 July 1931 – 2 May 2019) was a Ghanaian people, Ghanaian Botany, botanist and Plant pathology, plant pathologist. A professor and later, an emeritus professor at the University of Ghana, Legon, he also focused his res ...

, botanist and plant pathologist * Nicholas, T. Clerk, academic, administrator, Presbyterian minister and former Rector of the GIMPA * Theodore S. Clerk, urban planner and first Ghanaian architect * Silas Dodu, academic, cardiologist and second Dean of the University of Ghana Medical School * Modjaben Dowuona, first Registrar of the

University of Ghana The University of Ghana is a public university located in Accra, Ghana. It is the oldest public university in the country. The university was founded in 1948 as the University College of the Gold Coast in the British colony of the Gold Coast ...

;

Minister for Education An education minister (sometimes minister of education) is a position in the governments of some countries responsible for dealing with educational matters. Where known, the government department, ministry, or agency that develops policy and deli ...

(1966–1969) *

Charles Odamtten Easmon Charles Odamtten Easmon or C. O. Easmon, popularly known as Charlie Easmon, (22 September 1913 – 19 May 1994) was a medical doctor and academic who became the first Ghanaian to formally qualify as a surgeon specialist and the first Dean of t ...

, first Ghanaian surgeon and first Dean of the University of Ghana Medical School *

Emmanuel Evans-Anfom Emmanuel Evans-Anfom (7 October 1919 – 7 April 2021) was a Ghanaian physician, scholar, university administrator, and public servant who served as the second Vice Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology from 1967 t ...

, medical practitioner and university administrator *

Vincent Birch Freeman Vincent Birch Freeman (born 25 December 1936) is a Ghanaian educationist who was headmaster of Accra Academy from 1986 to 1996 and headmaster of Ebenezer Senior High School from 1974 to 1986. He served as president of the Conference of Heads of ...

, educationist and headmaster * Chris Tsui Hesse, cinematographer, filmmaker, prison reform advocate and Presbyterian minister * L. W. Fifi Hesse, first black African Rhodes Scholar, Director-General, Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), 1972–1974; 1984–1988 and Member, Public Services Commission of Ghana * Nii Ashie Kotey – academic, lawyer and Justice of the

Supreme Court of Ghana The Supreme Court of Ghana is the highest judicial body in Ghana. Constitution of Ghana, Ghana's 1992 constitution guarantees the independence and separation of the Judiciary of Ghana, Judiciary from the Legislative and the Executive (governm ...

(2018–2023) *

George Tawia Odamtten George Tawia Odamtten, (born 7 July 1948) is a Ghanaian mycologist at the University of Ghana. He was professor at the Department of Plant and Environmental Biology and formerly dean of the erstwhile faculty of science at the University of Ghan ...

, Ghanaian mycologist * Nii Amaa Ollenu, jurist, judge and Speaker of the Parliament of Ghana in the Second Republic *

, barrister, judge and the first African Speaker of the Legislative Council and first Speaker of the Parliament of Ghana * Carl Christian Reindorf, Basel mission pastor and pioneer historian * Fred T. Sai, family physician, academic and advocate of reproductive rights * Harry Sawyerr, politician and quantity surveyor

References