Mariama Kayeh

Sierra Leone's 19th century education pioneer who established West Africa's first girls' school

Mariama Kayeh (1842-1912) was a visionary educator in Freetown who defied cultural norms to create West Africa's first formal school for girls in 1867. A liberated slave's daughter, she recognized education as the key to emancipation and developed a bilingual curriculum blending Mende traditions with European sciences.

Her Kayeh Girls' Academy initially faced violent opposition but eventually enrolled 200 students by 1880. She pioneered night classes for working mothers and created a teacher training program that produced 34 female educators by 1890. Her 1875 publication Education for All argued that girls' literacy was essential for national development.

Kayeh secretly taught boys during the 1898 Hut Tax War, preserving educational continuity during rebellion. She developed an early system of scholarships funded through community farming cooperatives. Though largely forgotten until recent decades, her methods influenced later leaders like Bai Bureh. The current Sierra Leone National Girls' School in Freetown stands on the site of her original academy.