The Governor General of the
Belgian Congo appealed to the Jesuits to instruct and educate the increasing number of young Europeans in
Léopoldville. On 4 October 1937 the college opened its doors under the name St. Albert College, to honor St. Albert of Louvain, patron saint of the Belgian monarch
Albert I. It was located on premises lent by the
Sisters of the Sacred Heart. Two Jesuit priests and a scholastic along with a layman handled the first three classes as well as school and extracurricular activities. The school calendar, class schedule, and the number of course hours followed the Belgian directives. The curriculum was deliberately styled after that of the Jesuit
St John Berchmans College, Brussels. In 1945 the Marist Brothers ended their assistance with the primary division of the school. There were then 123 elementary and 93 secondary students. At independence there were 515 elementary students, 227 in Greco-Latin, 151 in Modern Science, 77 in Latin 6th, 49 in Latin 5th, and 20 in Rhetoric. These statistics would increase year by year to an average of 2,400 students – 1,750 primary and 650 secondary – by 1975. At the introduction of the ideology of
African authenticity in the country, Albert I College became Boboto College. The year 1954 opened a new phase in the history of the College with its enrollment of the first six Congolese students. ==Boboto Cultural Center==