On 6 October 1944, the doors of the boarding school at Sheikh School, Somaliland Protectorate, opened to welcome its first elementary class. As one of the 32 boys in the class, the author gives a contemporary account of the educational system established by the British Protectorate Government. Formal Education in British Somaliland Protectorate is a meticulously researched account of how, from this small beginning, the education system grew in those early days. It draws extensively on material from the National Archives, the British Library and the School of Oriental & African Studies. The analysis of the early days of formal education together with the book's commentary on selected historical events (1884-1960) reveals the true nature of life and education under colonial rule.