Page 30 - ECDoE_Planning and Delivery of School Infrastructure_Status Report_Jan2020

31 | Planning and delivery of Public School Infrastructure - Status Report January 2020 | Section A: Completed projects
Project Pro le: Healdtown Comprehensive School
Project quick facts
Before
Project type: Education District: Local Municipality: Project Location: Emis No: Implementing Agent:
Hostels
Amathole West Nkonkobe
Lamyeni
200100296 Development Bank of Southern Africa R46.3m
54 months
July 2018
Allocated budget: Construction Period: Project completed:
Healdtown Comprehensive School, situated close to Fort Beaufort, is one of South Africa’s oldest historical institutions. It was founded in 1855, operating as a training school for evangelists and later as a teacher training college and practice school for primary teachers. Our country’s rst democratic president, Mr. Nelson Mandela, went to school here between 1937 and 1938.
The school was severely damaged in the 1976 Soweto student uprising and many of the buildings including 14 classrooms were burnt down. Healdtown, previously also known as Ilanga High School, was one of the rst schools outside of Soweto to join the uprising that swept through the country at the time. The school was reopened as Healdtown Comprehensive School shortly after the rst democratic elections and the rst phase of educational renewal and restoration of buildings started.
This elite Methodist institute represented an exclusive black academic institution. In his memoir Long Walk to Freedom, Mr. Mandela provides the following description of Healdtown: “Located at the end of a winding road overlooking a verdant valley, Healdtown was far more beautiful and impressive than Clarkebury. It was, at the time, the largest African school south of the equator, with more than a thousand learners, both male and female. Its graceful ivory colonial buildings and tree-shaded courtyards gave it a feeling of a
The school was restored through the Historic Schools Restoration Project (HSRP) by the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), as Implementing Agent and work was completed in the second quarter of 2018. Construction work included the restoration of the old boys Hostel, including bulk engineering services such as water, sewer and electricity upgrades.
privileged academic oasis, which is exactly what it was.”
After
Learners staying at this hostel come from impoverished rural families who are mostly dependent on social grants. The Department has a longer-term vision to make the school a Centre of Excellence for Mathematics and Science so that it can serve more learners in the broader district.