Name J. Chesswas | Role Author | |
Books The essentials of Luganda, Methodologies of Educational Planning for Developing Countries | ||
John Douglas Chesswas MBE (born 1919) is a British author, linguist and policy advisor. He obtained an MBE in the new years honours list in 1965 ( Civil list) He was commissioned from private soldier to a 2nd lieutenant on 1st jan 1941 in the Pioneer Corp during World War II. He was a pioneer in the development of Luganda language orthography, held a high post in the colonial government of the day, and worked as a leading educational evaluation theorist for programmes in the developing world.
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Orthography of Luganda
Chesswas is the author of The Essentials of Luganda (1954); the third (1963) and fourth (1967) editions of which are commonly used as a textbook for courses in Luganda language.
Chesswas was employed by the Luganda Language Board as a teacher of Luganda when, in 1949, the Government for the Uganda Protectorate began to offer free courses in Luganda to any officer wishing to take up the study. Recognising the lack of teachers in the language, Chesswas took the opportunity to publish a textbook for stations where no teachers of the language were available. Chesswas cites Sir Apolo Kagwa's Engero z’Abaganda and Michael B. Nsimbi's Olulimi Olugand as his major sources, and acknowledges Nsimbi as his primary aid in developing the text.
With Nsimbi, Chesswas went on to produce An explanation of the Standard Orthography of Luganda; first written for The Eagle Press in 1958, and published as a book in 1963, with second, third and fourth (1985) editions.
Educational evaluation
Chesswas spent 19 years in the education service of Uganda, predominantly as Provincial Education Officer, Buganda, and finally as Officer in Charge of the Educational Planning Unit within the Ministry of Education. He was subsequently appointed to UNESCO on the staff of the International Institute of Educational Planners, where, as a theorist in the field of educational evaluation, he authored a number of important books and articles, collaborating with other notable theorists such as Raymond Lyons, Jacques Hallak and John Vaizey.
Chesswas's works include: