Gayaza: Uganda's first female school stands the test of time

 

Describing the absence of a girls’ boarding school in colonial Uganda as ‘Buganda’s broken arm’ just when boys’ education was firmly rooted, Sir Apollo Kaggwa, a in chief in Buganda, requested the Englandbased Church Missionary Society (CMS) to open a girls’ school at Gayaza in 1904.

 

Fellow chiefs, however, resisted the move. Wealthy and privileged as they were, the chiefs did not want to pay school fees for girls. They thought that by spending a lot of time at school, their daughters would become lazy wives and forget how to cultivate or take care of their homes.

 

They believed that the girls’ mothers and aunties were better ‘teachers’, who would mould their daughters into better brides. 

 

“Even the Europeans wondered whether mothers would be ready to forego the help their girls provided at at home and whether their fathers would be willing to pay the fees,” indicates History of Gayaza Junior School, a book that is being compiled about the school.

 

But these fears were swept aside when a CMS ladies’ conference, convened in England, resolved that a girls’ school be started near the Gayaza mission land, which was donated by Kaggwa.

 

Indeed, CMS sent Alfreda Allen to fast-track girls’ education in the country. Prior to this, there had been a few boys’ schools, while the girls were only receiving church instruction in the scriptures and catechism in preparation for baptism. Allen arrived in Buganda with Janet Smith, later followed by Dorothy Allan, Nancy Corby and Irene Steintz.

 

A year later, in January 1905, Gayaza High School opened its gates, becoming Uganda’s fi rst girls’ boarding school. It was built on a 140-acre of land, with three houses; Kikko, Kyawakati and Manga.

 

The houses were made of sunburnt bricks, grass–thatched, plastered reed ceilings and brick-fl oor that would be smeared with cow dung every fortnight.

 

Pupils ate their meals on verandas, as there was no dining hall. The school started with four pioneer students. However, by July 1905, the students’ population had grown to 43 boarding students, 90 Years of Gayaza, another book chronicling the institutions history, shows.

 

Suuka, a cloth tied under the armpits and held by a sash, leaving the shoulders bare, was the students’ first uniform. With time, Allen designed a new uniform; a round-neck, with a short Magyar sleeves, an embroidered badge and different colours used to distinguish classes.

 

Bridging the intellectual gap The school’s aim was to train Christian wives and mothers to bridge the intellectual gap between husbands and wives. Its curriculum tackled agriculture, handwork, child-care, needlework, scripture reading and writing, arithmetic and geography.

 

“There must be noble women in order to have noble men,” Allen, the school’s fi rst headmistress, is quoted in the 90 Years of Gayaza as saying at the school’s inauguration in 1905.

 

Careful plans were laid for the girls’ care, with a provision of only one entrance and exit. A rule that no girl should go out, even to cultivate, unless accompanied by a matron, was also instituted.

 

At the beginning, the school lacked teachers. “As we have no teachers except for Bible classes, I have trained some of the older girls to help in arithmetic classes. It is very nice to see the young girls trying hard to teach the matrons together with children, the simple rule of arithmetic,” indicates another annual letter to CMS.

 

The older girls were mentored to teach young ones alongside European teachers. 

 

Thrilled with what he saw, Kaggwa asked women who had not yet enrolled their daughters at the school to persuade their husbands to sell cows to pay for their daughters’ education. With time, the chiefs appreciated girl education and willingly paid fees in kind, with many offering cows as fees. The animals were reared at a one William’s farm in Namutumba.

 

Originally, the school was enrolling only daughters of chiefs and highly-placed people in society like clan heads and clergymen. The girls would later get married by sons of chiefs, who would have studied at King’s College, Buddo.

 

However, while ‘High School’ is associated with secondary education, Gayaza had not attained that level and neither did it have nursery or primary education status.

 

“It was called ‘High School’ because it accommodated only children of whose parents were of high status,” says Robert Ssemakula, the head of Gayaza Junior School Museum. “They chose a name to match their ranking in society and status.”

 

In the presence of Buganda prime minister and chiefs, Bishop Tucker, on March 24, 1906, opened a hall as guests arrived on foot, bicycles, rickshaws and donkeys to grace the ceremony in which girls mesmerised their audience with a meticulous drill display punctuated with singing.

 

“My conviction is that we ought to give these people, who are so eager and enthusiastic to learn, the best we can,” school literature quote Allen’s letter to the CMS England headquarters in 1907.

 

As enrollment grew, the school started offering both primary and informal secondary education, calling for separation of the two sections.

 

In 1962, Gayaza Junior School retained the old premises on the eastern side, while the secondary school found home on the western wing.

 

The two schools were separated by a wall fence. “We used to share everything, including food, (Land Rover and nurse Kabali) with Gayaza Junior School until 1962 when we separated,” says Victoria Kisarale, the current Gayaza Girls High School head teacher.

 

With eight classes, the junior school was allocated four classrooms and the other four taken over by the high school. There were no fi nal exams for girls to pass from the junior to the secondary section. Nevertheless, joining secondary school was a privilege.

 

As a result, one Hill became the Gayaza Junior School headmistress from 1963 to 1969, while Joan Cox was the Gayaza High School head teacher.

 

From four girls, the twin-schools have gone on to become two of Uganda’s academic giants, increasing enrollment at the junior school to 1,000 pupils and 1, 080 students at Gayaza High School, respectively.

 

When they separated, Gayaza Junior changed its motto from Banno (friends) and started sharing Gayaza High motto: Never Give Up.

 

To commemorate the school centenary, a multi-billion shilling administrative, laboratory and classroom block was set up. The building that was named after current headmistress, Margaret Kibuuka Musoke, was launched in 2005 and commissioned in July 2010 by former Premier Apolo Nsibambi.

 

“She has transformed the school into what it is today,” says Robert Muwonge, the deputy head teacher.