Brief History of Education in Uganda
The missionaries along side the British colonial government introduced
formal education into Uganda. The first schools opened in the southern
parts of Uganda by the Mill Hill Fathers, the White Fathers, the Church
Missionary Society and others in the 1890’s and the 1900’s. Due to difficulty
in colonizing all of Uganda, especially northern and eastern Uganda,
formal education was slow to reach these parts of the country. It could be
argued by historians that the British after occupying the territories around
the source of the Nile, which was their long time interest; they were less
interested in the northern part of the country. The northern and eastern
parts were considered less socially organized under chiefdoms, compared
to the southern and western parts of the country organized under kingship,
and were therefore generally considered more difficult to govern.
By 1905 the sphere of the British Protectorate in Uganda had touched as
far north as Gulu and some parts of West Nile. At this time the Comboni
Missionaries, commonly known as the Verona Fathers, had already began
to make evangelization inroads into northern Uganda via Sudan. The
Comboni’s first settled in Gulu then later in the West Nile district. The coming
of the Comboni’s opened the first door to formal education in the North.
They vigorously began to educate young men and women to become literate
and self-sustainable citizens of Uganda, but above all dedicated
Christians and followers of Christ. The Comboni’s just as many other
groups of evangelists in Africa were right to see that evangelization without
incorporation of western formal education was not meaningful. The
eradication of illiteracy, poverty and disease were seen to be linked with
the Divine agenda of saving souls. Consequently, schools and seminaries
including hospitals sprang up to support the efforts of evangelization. It
can therefore be stated that without the missionary intervention into the
northern parts of Uganda, the state of education in the north would be
appalling. It can still be argued that the poor social infrastructure existing
today in the northern parts of Uganda is a consequence of the neglect a
century ago by the first British colonial authorities. It’s therefore obvious
that the missionaries have been the cornerstone of both the colonial and
the different post-independent governments in supporting education in
Uganda.
The Uganda Ministry of Education launched the Universal Primary
Education program (UPE) in 1997, initially offering free education for four
children per family, of whom 2 were required to be girls. During the first
year, enrolment nationally rose from 2.9 million to 5.3 million, and the average
class size grew from 40 to 110 children per classroom. By 2002 the
UPE requirement covered all the children of school going age taking the
national enrollment to near 7 million. No provision was made for secondary
education (junior high & high school). The challenge for Uganda is now
to provide the infrastructure as well as the resources to cater for UPE
graduates who have entered secondary education after 2004. For this reason,
the Government of Uganda has made urgent calls to the private sector,
the Civil Society Organizations such as the NGO’s, church organizations,
etc to pull resources and assist it overcome the eminent and existing
massive enrollment problem at secondary level. It is within this perspective
that the Archbishop Flynn Secondary School will be highly welcomed
by the Christians and civil communities in Pader district where
there is no secondary school.
Armed rebellion has gravely affected most educational infrastructure in the
northern part of Uganda. The conflict has stagnated most development
programs in the districts of Gulu, Kitgum and Pader. Consequently, the districts
can raise no taxes to support reconstruction of vandalized and dilapidated
school buildings. Whereas the enrollment has risen, the number of
schools have remained the same or reduced. Indeed education is the only
way to revive and reconstruct the economy and to repair the lives of the
people of northern Uganda affected by the 19-year-old armed conflict. On
the background of economic retardation, any development in the north
especially through education will be welcome.
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