National School Umuwala traces its origins to the 1940s, when it was first established as St. John’s Catholic School, Umuwala, under the influence of British Colonial administration. The school was part of the Catholic missionary expansion in Orlu Province and was affiliated with St. Gregory’s Catholic Mission, Amaigbo, under the administration of Rev. Fr. Hacket. Fr. Hacket also supervised several other missions in the Eastern region of Nigeria, including Ekwe, Umuaka, Nkwerre, Amurie, and Amucha. In its earliest years, St. John’s Catholic School had no permanent structures. Pupils attended lessons in thatched huts and mud-built shelters, with dwarf walls (about 2 feet high) serving as improvised seats for pupils. Missionaries went from house to house to encourage enrollment, and admission was based on a simple, improvised, and imprecise metric test: a child had to be able to touch their left ear with their right hand over the head. At this time, the school offered only Infant and Primary 1 to 3 due to a shortage of teachers. Pupils who desired to continue to higher grades (Standard) transferred to nearby mission schools such as St. Thomas Catholic School, Nkwerre or St. Michael Catholic Schoool, Umueze I, Umuduru. Teacher training opportunities were available at St. Gregory’s, Amaigbo, where young men and women underwent a one-year course to qualify as teachers.