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A HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN UGANDA

A HOT moist climate seems usually to produce two
things—an abundant vegetation and a strong disinclination
on the part of the inhabitants for strenuous and sustained
effort.
Now in Uganda, though both these conditions are found,
there is a great desire to have things done as well as possible.
Not necessarily to do them thoroughly yourself, but to make
others do them.
This desire for thoroughly good work was at once seen by
the first travellers who entered the country. They could see
that in native arts the people of Uganda were far ahead of
the surrounding tribes. Their houses, and their articles of
native manufacture, far surpassed all otheTs in neatness and
completeness.
In those earlier days there was no paid labour in the country.
Every workman was owned by some master who made him
work, and who would only accept his best efforts.
This naturally formed very fertile ground for educational
effort. The people, especially the young men, were filled
with a keen desire to better themselves. And as intercourse
with Europeans became more frequent and more intimate,
the opportunities for development of character became much
greater. At first the missionary efforts took largely the form
of teaching the people to read and write. And for many
years the Bible and the Prayer Book were the whole literature
of the country. Very quickly the lads and young men learnt
to read the Bible, and their minds gradually opened to the
fact that there were long ages before the time of their most
ancient king, and that death would not close the horizon
of their future and outlook. The acquaintance thus gained
with other countries also, through reading the Bible, opened
their minds to the fact that the world was much larger than
384 JOURNAL OF THE AFRICAN SOCIETY

they had supposed, and that the setting sun did not fall into
a hole at some measurable distance in the west.
Contact with Europeans stimulated the people's desire for
trade. And men to carry on this work were sent out into all
the surrounding countries with goods for sale.
Thus arose the need for being able to write and to keep
accounts. Schools were started, at first only in the chief
towns, but as time went on every chief demanded a school,
and now in every village schools are found where reading,
writing, and simple arithmetic are taught.
Owing to the kindly help given by the English Adminis-
tration of the country, it soon became possible to put up
schools in which the sons of chiefs should have a much more
complete education. Boarding schools, under European
supervision, were provided, and then the whole character of
the boys was developed and cared for in a way that is not
possible in day schools. Football and other games were
introduced, and by them the boys were taught self-control
and obedience to the laws of the game.
It soon became necessary to have girls' schools. When the
idea of educating girls was first brought before the native
chiefs it was laughed at as quite absurd. Women were to
be either- slaves or playthings, and therefore education was
quite unnecessary for them. It was thought they could never
become clerks, storekeepers, or enter other occupations in
which they could earn money, and so to educate them seemed
to the native mind most ludicrous. In order to supply the
village schools with native schoolmasters it soon became
necessary to have normal schools. And boys came to these
schools, sent and paid for by the district or village to which
they were afterwards to return. So that gradually the whole
standard of education was advanced. In a small out-of-the-
way part of the country you might see a boy scantily clad
acting as schoolmaster to a number of younger boys gathered
round a sheet with the alphabet on it. In the more populous
and more thriving villages you would find a building put
up for the special purpose of a school, with desks m it, black-
boards, and the other usual school appliances.
At Budo, "the King's School," as it is called, at which some
 A HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN UGANDA 285

ten Government scholarships are annually given, worth about

,£20 each for three years, a much more advanced and complete
education is given. The school buildings are arranged on the
flat top of a hill, so as to form quadrangles, with dormitories,
workshops, schoolrooms, and classrooms arranged in blocks.
Here, as at many of the boarding schools, are a good
swimming bath, football and sports ground, and also a
garden in which the boys can be taught cultivation of coffee
and other things of commercial value.
At one time it was thought necessary to have a school in
which carpentering and other technical instruction could be
given; but it was found better to include this, as far as
possible, in the general education given at each mission
station. And so keen was the demand for skilled labour that
young men started carpenters' shops of their own, and brick-
making fields, with sheds and kilns. As the people demanded
better houses, in which light and air were admitted, the old
beehive-shaped house gave way to brick-built houses, with
properly fitting doors and windows. There are young men
now who will take a contract to build a house for a chief or
European, drawing the plans and carrying out the whole
work. One young man has just received a contract from
the P.W.D. to build an office and court-house at Kampala.
He has built several churches and houses for missionaries,
and, together with several others, he has received a certificate
from the head of the P . W D . for first class work.
" Ignorance is the curse of God, knowledge the wing wkh
which we fly to heaven." The educational development of
the people of Uganda abundantly proves the truth of this
statement. The reluctance to undertake hard and strenuous
work has been overcome by teaching the dignify of labour,
and by making it profitable and interesting.
In this marvellous transformation which has taken place
in Uganda His Excellency the Governor (and those who pre-
ceded him in this office) has always taken the keenest interest,
and has given generous and most encouraging help.
In the schools, of which there are 272 in the country
under the supervision of the Church Missionary Society,
there are some 35,426 boys and girls under instruction.
 2S6 JOURNAL OF THE AFRICAN SOCIETY

In 1910 the imports into the country were .£400,000 and

in 1914 .£1,000,000, so rapidly is the country developing as a
market for European goods. The bicycles and bicycle acces-
sories in 1914 amounted to £15,000. And had it not been
for the war the trade interests would have gone on and
developed as rapidly as they began to do.
In this beneficent work of educating the people of Uganda,
by developing their natural resources, the Government, the
missions (both Protestant and Roman Catholic), and the
European and Indian traders have all taken a part. It would
be invidious to say which has done the most, the results
of their combined efforts are most satisfactory and encourag-
ing, and promise even larger things in the future.
Education that does not touch the moral part of a man is
of little use, especially amongst Africans, and therefore it is
most satisfactory to know that every village in Uganda has
a church of some sort, where the effort is made to teach the
people to worship God. Surely it is a matter for profound
thankfulness to know that in these churches are to be found
men whose hands have been dyed with the blood of their
fellow men, now stretching out their hands to God, and
with those lips defiled with obscene and filthy language now
praising God and telling of His wondrous works.
The introduction of writing has brought a new interest and
pleasure into the lives of thousands, and created a demand for
stationery of all kinds which is quite astonishing. This great
success in training and developing the natives in Uganda
gives promise of even greater things in the future. When the
war is over, and the exports and imports can again be carried
on the railway, the development of all the resources of the
country will proceed by leaps and bounds, and this country of
Uganda will form a very important link in the Cape to Cairo
Railway scheme.
R. H. WALKER.