Sarah Nyendwoha Ntiro funeral service in Kampala

Oct 25, 2018

In 1954, Hoima-born Nyendwoha graduated from Oxford University with a Bachelor of Arts (Hon) in History.

FUNERAL

KAMPALA - A funeral service for women's rights icon Sarah Nyendwoha Ntiro was held at All Saints Cathedral Nakasero in Kampala on Thrusday.

Ntiro, the first woman university graduate in East and Central Africa, died Monday at the age of 92 en route to Mengo Hospital.

She will be laid to rest on Friday at Kiganda in Hoima district after prayers at St. Peter's Cathedral Duhaga.

Ntiro and her late husband Sam Joseph Ntiro had two sons together.

In 1954, she graduated from Oxford University with a Bachelor of Arts (Hon) in History.

Both her parents, Erasto B. Nyendwoha Akiiki and Jane Nsungwa Nyendwoha Adyeri, were teachers.

In the late 1950s, when it emerged that Uganda would be granted her independence by the British colonialists, Nyendwoha is said to have started civic education sessions in Hoima to discuss democracy and elections.

Ntiro was instrumental in making sure women earned salaries equal to those of men. She was at the time (1955) a teacher at Cayaza High School, having graduated from Oxford University with Bachelor's in History the year before.

When the colonial Government tried to pay her less than her male counterparts with the same academic qualifications as she had, she rejected the salary and decided to teach without pay.

It is said the wife of the then Governor heard of Ntiro's protest, and intervened. The issue was pursued and she was permitted to receive a salary equal to that of men, setting a precedent that has stood for almost 60 years.

Read more here >> Ntiro: A champion of women's rights

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