In improving the economic situation of Uganda between 1906 and 1957, works of missionaries were important to the protectorate and colonial government works.  One of the lesser-known Irish candidates being considered for canonization contributed greatly to the development of Uganda and other countries in East Africa. Though Mother Kevin was better known by her religious works, she has a number of activities she did towards the economic development of Uganda.   Mother Kevin, spent most of her religious life in Uganda where she is buried and is fondly remembered for establishing a number of institutions that produced needed personnel that contributed to the development of this country. During the period when Uganda was going through struggles to control its economy, Sister Kevin (1906 to 1957) established tangible assets in the economic, social and health spheres which are very vital in the growth of Uganda’s economy.

In the health sector, Sr. Kevin is remembered for having started health infrastructures which helped in the growth of health systems in Uganda. She started her first clinic under a mango tree near their convent at Nsambya. In Buganda the first seven years of missionary work were tough for the Sisters. They were faced with various diseases like small pox and malaria; the infant mortality rate was also quite high due to poor maternal care, frequent maternal deaths and poor nutrition among children. In 1906, she expanded the mission and set up a hospital in Naggalama, 23 miles away from Nsambya. In 1910, she was now appointed the leader of the group with her base at Nsambya convent. In 1913, three more Sisters arrived from London, which allowed her to establish a third station in Kamuli, Busoga. All these three missions focused on medical care and education for the local population. Two nurse training schools and two leprosarium hospitals in Uganda were established later.  Following up the establishment of these two missions, she Naggalama and Kamuli, she continued to set up primary and secondary education facilities, trained nurses, and set up clinics, hospitals and orphanages in other places.

Socially, Sr. Kevin advocated for the rights of the oppressed and stressed gender equality.  Mother Kevin is greatly remembered in Uganda for her love for the vulnerable and marginalized persons such as the lepers and women in the Ugandan society. Concerning the economy of Uganda and Kenya, the two countries are indebted to Mother Kevin’s contribution from the time she set her foot on the Ugandan soil to-date.  She contributed immensely to the eradication of diseases and ignorance which were hampering the development of the country.  An enlightened woman by this time was able to take care of her home by providing better nutrition to the children, thus preventing diseases that threatened their morality, in this way boosting the health of family members and saving the income of each home.  This contributed to the existence of a healthy and productive population that was ready to build the economy of Uganda and Kenya.

Background to the education situation in Uganda from 1903 to 1957

In 1886, formal Western education was introduced in Uganda by the Church Missionary Society (CMS) from England.  This formal education was developed by religious organizations mainly the Protestants and Catholics and the era between 1900 and 1919 was deemed as “the missionaries’ golden age.” During this time, the missionaries’ role was based on convincing the Africans to send their children to missionary schools and to put them under the influence of Christianity.  Missionaries designed an educational policy that separated individuals from their traditional milieu.

Development of education in Uganda by missionaries

Before listing the first established schools in Uganda, it is important to expose some differences between the Western education system and Ugandan informal education system. With the advent of missionary education, Ugandan people started to receive a type of education which was non-existent by then. Western education was carried out in schools-in buildings unlike African education which took place mainly in homesteads and wherever people gathered. With this new system of formal education, teachers were trained by the missionaries in special schools for specific skills and purposes. However, every sensible and responsible citizen was expected to give their children basic knowledge and basic skills necessary to be useful to themselves, to their families and to the rest of the society. The number of children enrolled in Western education schools was limited, but in the African education system every child had to learn from the family and village environments. Education in the African system was based on oral tradition and gaining practical skills through every day’s activities but Western education relied very much on reading and writing.

Boarding schools with greater educational opportunities were founded by the missionaries after 1904 for the more financially capable people and the more intelligent children from all parts of Uganda. These Schools were considered as educational centres for the African élite who would become future leaders of the country. Thus, Bishop Alfred Tucker wrote: “We felt strongly that if the ruling classes in the country were to exercise in the days to come and influence for good upon their people, and have a sense of responsibility towards them, it was absolutely essential for something to be done and speedily for the education of their children on the soundest possible lines.”[1]

Catholic Fathers and education

In 1901, a Catholic chief, Stanislaus Mugwanya, the driving force behind the establishment of formal education in Uganda, requested the missionaries to start a school that would mainly teach English. It was this that made the missionaries think of offering a form of education designed to help build pupils’ character and prepare them for the changing world in which they were living. For this reason, between 1902 and 1906, seven boarding schools were opened to serve this purpose. Majority of these schools were attended mainly by children of chiefs and people with influential positions of responsibility in the society. Two high schools were also established namely Namiryango high school for boys; It was located between Kampala and Jinja. Three years later, the rival Protestant CMS founded Mengo High School for boys on February 22, 1904, situated near the administrative headquarters of Kabaka. Two years later, in 1906, the Protestants established King’s College Buddo for boys and Gayaza High School for girls, both of which became the leading boarding schools in the country. The Catholics founded Lubaga high school in 1908.

As noted earlier, the Mill Hill Missionaries came to Uganda and joined the rest of the missionary groups in the work of evangelization. Among other missionary activities, the Mill Hill Fathers engaged themselves in the provision of education to the natives. They, like the other Catholic Missionaries, adapted the same kind of syllabus as found in the Protestant schools. They built numerous schools called “the Village schools”, or “bush schools”, which functioned as places of worship and learning centres. Their curriculum included Christian prayers and Christian practices, catechism, reading, writing, some history, geography, and cultivation of fields to produce food for pupils. After the pupils at the catechumenate had learnt all that had to be taught, they usually joined the vernacular schools. At a later date, vernacular schools were found at Parish or Mission posts where there were two or three European missionaries assisted by a number of African teachers.  These schools were joined by the pupils who had completed the village schools. Their curriculum included Christian instruction and its practice, reading, writing, arithmetic, history, geography, biology, agriculture, singing and games. Central schools with six classes, directed by European missionaries, were also developed by particular parishes. They were joined by pupils who had completed the Vernacular schools, in the fifth class. A class for training teachers was an important characteristic of central schools. Teachers became catechists and preachers, and they were sent out to establish catechist schools in the countryside. Other teachers taught in Vernacular schools and in the lower classes of the Central schools according to the evaluation of the European missionaries. The curriculum of the Central schools included Christian instruction and its practice, bible, history, arithmetic, geography, history, grammar, singing, English and games. In addition, there were high schools that received their candidates from Central schools. They were boarding junior secondary schools. These schools were set up for the children of chiefs and highly placed people in society. They were headed by European missionaries.

To attend these schools, students were required to pay £6,13s as a contribution for the dormitory and £2,10s for fees requirements. By monetary standards of the time, this was an exorbitant amount of money to extract from Africans. Hence, the children from poor families could not afford paying school fees. For this reason, many children remained in poor day village schools.

The curriculum used in missionary schools emphasized obedience to the Christian faith and colonial authorities. Hence, Christian truth was emphasized as the basis for morals and discipline.  This was from the annual report of 1907 statistics which was extracted concerning primary education. According to the same report, there were 31,865 children under instruction in the primary schools connected to the Anglican Church. Of these, 17,007 were boys and 14,865 were girls. It is noted that the number of girls who were in schools and completed was less compared to boys. The mode of instruction varied considerably.  Schools in the remoter districts stressed reading, writing, and arithmetic but at the centres such as Kampala, Hoima, Kabale, Kabarole, English was taught, and subjects such as Dictation, Geography, and Grammar were also part of the curriculum.  Bible reading and religious teaching formed the basis of all the instructions.

Further growth in the provision of education nationwide

During the year 1907, there was a considerable improvement in schools’ buildings and other equipment. In the more remote districts, already referred to above, the Church was likewise presented in primitive structures while in the more advanced districts modern brick-built classrooms and Churches were founded. In the same year, many efforts were made to promote secondary education. A third dormitory in connection with Kings’ School for higher education, at Buddo, had been completed and was opened early the following year. This school was well equipped with workshops, with the intention of imparting each pupil with theoretical and practical instruction. At each missionary centre, considerable attention was given to the training of school teachers. At Namirembe there was a properly constituted school for the training of school masters. Twenty-five young men from the Catholic mission school in Rubaga were in residence, and got the practical part of their training from the Namirembe Primary School, which had 500 boys.  Although this normal school had supplied trained school masters to more than 40 schools in various parts of the country, it was quite inadequate to meet all the requirements for trained school masters in different parts of the country.

In order to further the work of education in Uganda, a Board for Education was formed in 1907. Working in connection with the Board to whom reports were made were two school inspectors; the Rev. H. W. Whitehead and W. C. Hattersley. All the questions affecting the educational work of the Anglican Church in Uganda came before the Board for education. Grants were made from funds placed at the Board’s disposal by the Bishop for school equipment. The Board also advised the building of new schools, the repair of old ones, the supply of teachers and matters concerning their pay and training; in fact, any question affecting the educational interests of the protectorate was meant to be handled within its province. The establishment of these schools went hand in hand with the rapid spread of Christianity in Uganda. When the number of adherents increased, regular catechism classes were organized, and minimum periods, measured in years, were prescribed for pre-baptismal instruction. This division of mission schools according to religious denomination displayed an important characteristic of missionary education, which was denominational based on religious affiliation. The Catholic children had to be admitted to the Catholic schools and the Anglican children went to their own.

For a long time, the contact between the two factions was strained. Different religious orientations developed among the people, partly due to the nature of denominational education backgrounds. Roman Catholic missions combined broadly-based low-level education with specialized seminary-type training for a selected few; the Protestants offered wider opportunities for intermediate and extended instruction, and their curricula were more closely geared to the requirements of administration. The purpose of building separate churches, denominational elementary schools and industrial centres was to create an institutional environment that was conducted to win converts to a particular sect, initially among the sons and relatives of chiefs from the kingdoms of Buganda, Ankole, Bunyoro, and Toro, and to train Ugandan catechists and workers.  It is impossible to deal with missionary types of education without introducing the type of schools that were set up by missionaries and the curriculum followed within   each school. The dominant schools in Uganda were the Catechumens’ centres established by missionaries. They were established with the help of Ugandan Catechists, the local chiefs and the people who were seeking to be baptized.  The curriculum at these catechumens’ centres consisted mainly in learning catechism and all that pertained to the faith.  But the Protestant Church soon insisted that the pupils in these catechumenates also had to learn reading and writing.

Catholic Sisters and education: 1903-1957

The first Catholic group of missionary Sisters to come to Uganda were the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa, commonly known as the White Sisters, who arrived on 18^th October, 1899.  One of their dreams, among others, was that Uganda should have access to good education.  In 1902 they began in Buddu, South of Uganda, led by Mother Mechtilde.  By 1907 their mission had one 140 resident girls and among them were some aspirants who desired to join them.  These Sisters established St. Theresa Girls Primary School in 1915, as well as St. Michael Lubaga Hospital Nurses Training School in 1956.  In later years, between 1970 and 1973, they handed these institutions to the Daughters of Mary (Bannabikira) and Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Reparatrix – Ggogonya, who have continued carrying on what the White Sisters begun, thus contributing tremendously to the education sector in Uganda.[2]

Another group of Sisters who made a significant contribution to the education sector in Uganda was that of the Franciscan Sisters of Mill Hill Abbey, London.  As indicated in Chapter Two, Mother Kevin and her companions came at the Mill Hill Fathers, to join them in their missionary endeavours.  Among the many missionary activities they did was the establishment of educational institutions, the provision of medical care and other social services.   In 1903 the Sisters opened their first primary day school known as St. Joseph’s Girls Primary School – Nsambya.  Another school that they started in 1925 in the same location was St. Agnes Girls Primary Boarding School which was later transferred to Naggalama. Gradually they opened up several schools in Central and Eastern Uganda as well as in other areas of Kenya. They focused on the education of the Girl Child.  After founding the Little Sisters of St. Francis, both Institutes carried on the work alongside each other.

The list of schools that were established by the Franciscan Missionary Sisters before the death of Mother Kevin is provided in the appendix page.

[1] J.C. Ssekamwa. History and Development of Education in Uganda. Fountain Publishers, Kampala – Uganda, 1997, p. 47.
[2] Wikipedia, https://www.google.com/search?q