Sarah Nyendwoha Ntiro

Sarah Nyendwoha Ntiro 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.