Maseno National School, along with the Maseno Mission Hospital, was established in 1906 by the Missionaries of the
Church Missionary Society (CMS) as a school for the children of African chiefs. CMS' successor, the
Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK) remains the current sponsor of the school, overseen by the Diocese of Maseno South. The first administrator of the school was Reverend James Jamieson Willis fondly remembered as J.J Willis. Willis House, a dormitory in the school, is named in his honour. In 1905, Willis was sent to explore the
Kavirondo or lake region of Kenya as a prospective place for the establishment of a mission. After touring the area Willis pitched tent under a
Hickory tree (
Carya ovalis) known in the local languages as
oseno (
Luo) and
omseno (
Luhya). That particular place was proposed to be the site of the new mission with land being donated by Chief Ogola Ayieke and later in August 1908, a chapel, the Rock of Ages, also known as St. Paul's Chapel was built next to the tree. The place became known as
Maseno and it is where, in 1906, the missionaries established Maseno School. The first students were six sons of African chiefs. They were Simon Ndinya, Onduso, Odindo, Owiti, and the late senior chief Yonah Orao. The establishment of the school in the area attracted youthful boys from all over Western Kenya. Besides reading and writing, students were taught various skills such as
carpentry,
tailoring,
printing, building,
telegraphy and clerical work. As such, during the school’s first few years, there was a student protest. It was organized and led by Daniel Ojijo Oteko, a student who believed that the African students were receiving the bare minimum education. He received the support of his fellow students in what would go down in the history of the school as the first ever protest. Until 2017 when students stormed out of class to protest the interdiction of then principal Paul Otula, it had remained the only case of student unrest at the school. Oteko's wishes would be granted when a formal curriculum – like the one in the European schools in other parts of the country – was introduced in 1910. Ojijo Road in Nairobi is named for Ojijo Oteko. Teacher training was introduced in 1920 to train teachers who would in turn teach new students. This is what happened, for instance, to
BA Ohanga, later the first African to be appointed a minister in the colonial government, who was prevailed upon by Edward Carey Francis to go back to the school and teach. Those who studied at the school were tested at the end of their courses and awarded certificates. The colonial hangovers depicting the school's early history are still visible to-date. The hut that Jaramogi Oginga Odinga built during his time as a teacher at the school in protest of a silent policy that had white teachers getting the best houses with views of the Lake Victoria and black African teachers being assigned the north-facing staff houses overlooking the Mabungo hills, still stands. Perhaps Maseno School's greatest contribution to the local area's growth has been the growth of the institution that occupies some of its land: Maseno University. The university is a result of the merger of Siriba Teachers College and the Government Training Institute. The former, had been established to train teachers who, in the colonial days, ended up at Maseno School. The school celebrated its centennial in 2006 with the climax of the centenary celebrations being a visit to the school by then President
Mwai Kibaki on 5 December 2006. == Maseno School today ==