The Establishment of St. Mary’s School Yala by the Mill Hill Missionaries in Kenya

Abstract

European missionaries came into Kenya in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries primarily to evangelise and spread Christianity to the indigenous African population. Missionaries soon realised that evangelising; which required knowledge of reading of the bible and catechism instruction, would only be possible by provision of basic formal education. Hence the provision of this basic education began in various mission stations across the country in form of bush schools and later, primary schools. The beginning of mission secondary schools in Kenya was however a result of competition between the various missionaries in the country to; gain more converts into their faith, keep the converts they already had, and to have expanded space in the hierarchies of the colonial administration. This article will thus highlight this missionary rivalry and the subsequent development of St. Mary School Yala, a secondary school that was began in Western Kenya by the Roman Catholic Mill Hill Missionaries.

Keywords: Missionaries in Africa, African Education