What were the developments?

 Before 1920, formal education in Uganda was run by the Christian missionaries.
 Their efforts were mainly concentrated in Buganda.
 Wherever they built a Church they would also set up a dispensary and a grammar School.
 Their main aim was to enable their converts acquire the three Rs – Arithmetic, Reading and
writing.
 Their literacy was limited to reading religious books.
 However, by this time, very few African parents were willing to take their children to school.
 From 1900, missionaries introduced formal school education which was run alongside
traditional education which they found.
 The aim of this type of education was to create a civil and literate community.
 Those who had this type of formal education could be clerks, interpreters and catechists.
 In 1902, the first school was built called Namilyango College.
 It was mainly children of chiefs and influential families who joined this school.
 In the same year, Mengo High School was also constructed by the church missionary society.
 By 1903, 7,800 girls were attending school.
 The girls’ syllabus stressed submissiveness, hard work and good behavior.
 In 1905, a boarding girls’ school was opened called Gayaza High School.
 In 1906, King’s College Buddo was opened mainly for the sons and relatives of the Kabaka.
 St. Mary’s college Kisubi was later opened in 1908.
 More schools were opened up in Masaka, Kamuli, Iganga, Hoima, Gulu and Mbarara.
 Such schools included Ntare School, Mary Hill high school and Kiira College Butiki.
 In these schools, more emphasis was put on religious knowledge, English, geography and
arithmetic.
 These schools were run along denominational lines and were headed by reverends, nuns and
priests.
 Teacher Training Colleges (T.T.Cs) were later setup, the first at Mukono by the Anglican
Church.
 From 1920, the colonial government became interested in controlling education standards in
Uganda.
 This was because of the weaknesses found in missionary education e.g. they had neglected
technical and industrial education and they had also neglected agriculture and animal
husbandry.
 The colonial government thus set up a department of education to guide education in Uganda.

Why the colonial government became interested in controlling education in
Uganda

 There was need for the colonial government to control the syllabus i.e. what was taught in
Schools because each religious denomination only taught what suited their interests.
 Missionary Schools only provided Education that was theoretical and not practical therefore
irrelevant to the needs of the Africans.
 Missionaries had neglected animal husbandry and agriculture in their Schools yet the economy
was based on agriculture.
 Mission Schools were also too many but with poor conditions for example hygiene was very
poor and this called for the colonial government to come in and fund these Schools.
 Missionaries had also found it very expensive to shoulder education alone and this therefore
called for government funding.
 The government also wanted to create a good impression of itself in public hence it’s increased
funding of education.
 The colonial government had by 1920 accumulated funds through taxation, revenue from cash
crops and the Uganda railway and therefore this provided funds to invest in education.
 The colonial government had also finished setting up the necessary infrastructures like roads,
Uganda railway, Hospitals and therefore it had to start investing in Education.
 There was also need for the government to continuously inspect the mission Schools to ensure
that the syllabus was good, hygiene was improved and schools were properly staffed.
 Schools were run on religious differences and therefore the colonial government had to come
in to remove the differences.
 Muslims had been neglected in provision of the education services and therefore the
government had to come in.
 There was need to promote girl child education because missionary education had neglected
girls.
 Government had also realized the need for education in development to create a civil class of
skilled labor force.
 There was need to reduce illiteracy country wide especially in the rural areas because most
Schools were in Buganda and in urban centers.
 There was need to create a class of teachers who were Africans because they knew the
problems affecting their own people.
 Availability of scholarships from various institutions abroad e.g. Cambridge which called for
government selection of Students.
 There was also need to improve on communication between the colonialists and the local
people hence improvements in education had to be done by the colonial government.

How the government became involved in managing education after 1922

 Before 1920, education was in the hands of missionaries.
 Schools were opened and run by missionaries and evangelism was their main purpose.
 From 800 pounds in 1920, government expenditure on education rose to 88,000 pounds in
1933.
 In 1922, the government opened up a technical School at Makerere College to start training
people in the fields of health, carpentry and metal works.
 In 1924, the colonial government instituted the Phelps-stokes commission to re-examine the
state of education in all the East African countries.
 In 1924, the government appointed Sir Eric Husey as the first director of education in Uganda.
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 In 1926 more courses were introduced at Makerere College in the fields of teaching, agriculture
and medicine and it started producing professionals.
 Still in 1926, the colonial government started the Student exchange program and many students
came from as far as Kenya Tanzania, South Africa and Zambia.
 In the late 1920’s teacher training colleges were built, e.g. in Ndejje, Nkozi and Kyambogo
and these produced Grade II teachers.
 An inspectorate of schools was also set up to check on the standards of these Schools.
 The government also set up education commissions, for example, Phelps – stokes commission
and De – la –war commission to continuously research on the progress of education in Uganda.
 In 1935, the colonial government-linked Makerere to the college of Cambridge and the first
group of Ugandans sat for the Cambridge certificate of education exams.
 In 1937, Makerere was recommended to become an institution of higher learning for the whole
of E. Africa.
 In 1949, Makerere was linked to the University of London and it started offering degree
courses.
 Its first graduates came out in 1953 that included Nelson Mandela and Julius Nyerere.
 From the late 1930’s many schools were built and government increased funding in education.
 This increased enrollment in primary, Secondary, tertiary and technical schools.
 A sponsorship or Scholarship program was put in place to help students attain higher education.
 In 1964, all denomination schools (schools belonging to a particular faith) were abolished by
the 1964 education Act.

How did these developments affect the people of Uganda up to independence?

o Illiteracy reduce a number of African students learnt how to read, write and count.
o English language was widely used by those that had attended the formal education system
o There was loss of African values and customs as African students adopted European values
like dress.
o Many Ugandans were trained as Clarks, interpreters, secretaries and teachers.
o Due to the above training may Africans were employed by the colonial government and
education institutions.
o Africans lost land were formal schools were established.
o Formal schools promoted African talents in sports, music, dance and dram promoted I formal
school.
o Formal school system produce African nationalist like I.K.Musaazi, Elidad Mulira, Abu
Mayanja, Jolly Joe kiwanuka.Apollo Milton Obote.etc.
o Social infrastructures developed like roads and hospitals alongside schools.
o Ugandans acquired skills like tailoring, brick laying and typing.
o Many students acquired scholarships to study abroad.
o Formal educations also produced the first group of African elites.
o It also denied Africans professional training that would make them doctors, engineers lawyers
etc.
o In conclusion the effects of the formal education system on the people of Uganda were
political, social and economic.