Ntiro: Girl who shattered glass ceiling for women rights signs out

Kampala. She was a trailblazer who broke barriers and advanced women causes in education, fought to balance pay gaps, and introduced key Bills in Parliament, including creating an all-girls’ school in eastern Uganda.

But Ms Ntiro fought her last battle on Monday as she passed on at 92 as her relatives took her to Mengo Hospital in Kampala.
Born Sarah Nyendwoha in 1926 to teacher parents Erasto Nyendwoha Akiiki and Jane Nsungwa Nyendwoha Adyeri, she was one of only two children.
But Ms Ntiro broke untouchable barriers for girls and scaled several hurdles to earn several firsts in her adventures that defied the odds of a then male-dominated society.

At the time, her society largely marginalised women at the expense of men, but not for Dr Ntiro as she blazed the trail through Duhaga Girls Primary School in Hoima District through King’s College Budo from 1938 to 1945, and onto Makerere College.
From Budo, she became part of the first lot of five girls to win admission to Makerere College, where she trained as a teacher.
Even here, Ms Ntiro was a class apart as her tutors singled her out as rather too smart for college training.

While speaking to the Financial Times Magazine in 2012, Ms Ntiro said: “One of my teachers suggested that academically, the course wasn’t stretching me enough, and that I should go to university. Of course, that meant going abroad, as there was no university in Uganda then.”

For her school practice, while still at Makerere College, Ms Ntiro went to King’s College Budo and Kyebambe Girls’ School in Kabarole District in western Uganda.
Both schools had already established reputation for scholarly achievement and social prestige.

Soaring in education
Driven by grander ambitions, Ms Ntiro sought again sponsorship from the British government for further studies.
But there was a hurdle; proficiency in a second language besides English was a must have.
Undeterred and being the fighter she has always been, Ms Ntiro, although an Anglican, approached the White Sisters of Our Lady of Africa at Virika in Kabarole, who taught her Latin.

She soon broke another ground when she was admitted to St Ann’s College Oxford in 1951 for a degree in History, making her the first woman in East and Central Africa to graduate from Oxford.
“At that time, girl-child education was unheard of. Schools and universities were dominated by males,” Ms Ntiro told Daily Monitor in an interview last year.
Upon returning home from her studies abroad, Ms Ntiro was employed at Kyebambe Girls’ School before joining Gayaza High School in 1955.

She left Gayaza to join Duhaga Junior Secondary School in her home district of Hoima where she taught for two years before signing out of active teaching service in 1958.
By the time of Ms Ntiro’s return home, the employment was stratified and men, women, whites and native Ugandans all earned different salary scales despite having the same qualifications or doing the same job.

Similarly, when Ms Ntiro joined Gayaza High School’s teaching staff in 1955, the school was no exception.
Men were being paid higher than women despite having similar qualifications. Ms Ntiro stood for her right and took on the school administration.
To show her displeasure, while still delivering effectively, Ms Ntiro decided to forego her salary and continued as a volunteer teacher.

But her action soon caught the attention of Ms Ann Cohen, the wife of the then governor of Uganda, who intervened on Ms Ntiro’s behalf and she received equal pay with her male counterparts.
Ms Ntiro later left Gayaza to teach in Hoima from where in 1958 she left the classroom altogether to break another ground in legislation.

Following the increase in the number of African representatives to the Legislative Council (Legco), Ms Ntiro became the second woman after Ms Pumla Ellen Ngozwana Kisosonkole to join the Legco. She was in Uganda’s first Parliament (Legco) from 1958 to 1961.

While in the Legco, Ms Ntiro tabled a private member’s Bill on the registration of marriages.
Ms Joyce Mpanga, who joined her later in the Legco, says Ms Ntiro was a thorough and focused woman who paid especial attention to detail, and did not only look out for the promotion of the girl-child and women, but the entire humanity.
“She was thorough, caring not only for the girl-child but women in general. As the first woman to get a degree in East and Central Africa, she played a leading role in a number of fields that benefited women because there were few women at her level.

She used her position to agitate government to found Tororo Girls School [in Eastern Uganda].”
Mr Robert Owagonza, the newly appointed Bunyoro Kingdom finance minister, who worked with Ms Ntiro on educating communities on the plight of girl-child education, says: “For us who got the chance to work with her, we have lost a mentor, a teacher and a friend.”

The kingdom’s prime minister said: “Bunyoro has lost a parent, a mentor, a champion and a heroine.”
After independence, Ms Ntiro joined the Education ministry where she spearheaded the creation of the Teaching Service Committee, the forerunner of the present day Education Service Commission. The Teaching Service Committee oversaw the standardisation of education in Uganda.
In 1971, Ms Ntiro joined Makerere as clerk to the University Council and also as an assistant secretary in the University Secretary’s office.

Five years later, she went to the office that jointly administered the faculties of Arts and Sciences at Makerere, serving in that office until 1978 when she deemed the country not safe for her and fled to Kenya.
While in Kenya, Ms Ntiro did not drop the torch of education, starting an Education Consultancy of Higher Education for African Refugees.

To her, anything concerning the girl-child and education was a cause that required championing.
Ms Ntiro was a family woman too, marrying Prof Sam Joseph Ntiro, a Tanzanian, in 1958.
Her husband passed on in 1993, but the couple had two children – Joseph Kakindo Ntiro and Simbo Nyakwera Ntiro (RIP).
Celebrating Ntiro
In tribute to her superlative achievements, the Makerere University Convocation chairman, Dr Tanga-Odoi, said: “Makerere University Convocation is proud of what she later became. We celebrate her for accepting to be used by God as a champion. For her to have braved the lonely journey in what was largely the world of men then, is inspiring to many young women out there that are struggling to break the chains and pains of inequality.”

Dr Odoi said Dr Ntiro’s momentous life also reminds us of the role of teachers in raising a brave, adventurous and useful people.
Makerere University graduates more women than men at undergraduate level and a lot is being done to address all gender gaps that still exist.
By press time, the family had not yet received her postmortem report, Mr Leonard Kusemererwa, the deceased’s nephew, said.

Keeping her legacy
In acknowledgement of her efforts, a Sarah Ntiro Girls Vocational Secondary School was opened in Hoima District.
At the national level, the Foundation of Activists for Women’s Education in Uganda (Faweu), accorded her Woman of Distinction Award in appreciation of selflessness in the fight to promote girl’s education.
As an ultimate tribute to Ms Ntiro, Dr Tanga Odoi said: “Makerere University Convocation pledges to start a debate on her immortalisation as one of our own rare, beloved daughter and treasure.”

Tentative burial plan

Today: Prayer and a vigil, starting at 5pm at her residence in Kololo, Plot 53, Prince Charles Drive in Kampala.
Tomorrow: Service at All Saints Church in Kampala, thereafter, the body is transported to her home in Hoima where there will be a vigil in Kiganda Cell in Hoima Municipality.
Friday: Funeral service at St Peter’s Cathedral in Hoima Municipality, thereafter burial at her home in Kiganda Cell in Hoima Municipality.

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