Sarah Nyendwoha Ntiro

Sarah Nyendwoha Ntiro (21 March 1926 – 22 October 2018) was a Ugandan educator, activist and academic. She was the first woman university graduate in East and Central Africa from Oxford University with a Bachelor of Arts (Hon) in History in 1954.

Background and education She was born in Hoima to Erasto B. Nyendwoha Akiiki of the Bakwonga clan and Jane Nsungwa Nyendwoha Adyeri, from the Babiito clan, in 1925. Both her parents were teachers. Sarah started school in kindergarten class at Duhaga Girls' School in Hoima where she studied up to Primary 4. In 1938, she joined King's College Budo, where she studied for eight years, from Primary 5 to Secondary 6 (1938–1945). At the end of these years, she sat the Makerere College entrance examinations and was admitted to Makerere College to train as a teacher. She finished three years, doing history, geography, English and teacher training. She was denied the opportunity to study Mathematics because the Maths Tutor said he did not teach girls.

She did her teaching practice at King's College Budo and Kyebambe Girls’ School and later received a teaching certificate. In 1951, she joined Oxford University where graduated with a bachelor's degree in history in 1954. She was the first East and Central African woman to graduate from Oxford University at a time when no tertiary institutions granted degrees in East Africa.

In 1976, she was transferred from the office of the university secretary to the joint administration of the Faculty of Arts and the Faculty of Social Sciences where she worked until October 1978. While at Makerere, she was also a Director of the East African Posts and Telecommunications Corporation (EAPTC).

Breaking barriers Her championing of women's rights in Uganda has come a long way. Soon after her arrival at Gayaza High School, she discovered that her salary was to be less than that of her male colleagues. In protest of this, she offered to work without any pay for one year to repay for sponsoring her studies. After one academic year, she told them, she would resign and find employment that would pay her, not as a woman, but as a worker, an ordinary employee. Her action yielded results. The Headmistress reported her action to the wife of the Governor, Sir Andrew Cohen who approached her at the school. She stood her ground and after this meeting, she received equal pay for equal work done. This was how she broke the barrier of unequal pay.

Family She married Sam Joseph Ntiro in December 1958. They had two sons, Joseph Kakindo Ntiro Amooti and Simbo Nyakwera Ntiro Atenyi.

Published works

Emboldened. FEMRITE Publications. 2021. ISBN 978-9970-480-10-4.