TRAFALGAR HIGH SCHOOL - THE HISTORY, THE LEGACY AND FUTURE
Maegan-Leigh Jacobs
There are many schools within Cape Town that has contributed
to the rich history of South Africa. One school that has played a significant
and leading role in making their mark while fighting against apartheid policies
is Trafalgar High School.
The history
The school was established in 1912 and was the first school built in Cape Town for coloured and black students. At the time it was found that the Cape School Board had been unfairly neglectful about "non-European" education. Along with this, an investigation proved that the School Board Act presented no benefit for the Coloured population. During those years, the education for Coloured was limited and only offered primary education. The importance of a high-school for students of colour was actively propagated by Dr Abdullah Abdurahman, president of the African Political Organisation along with Harold Cressy who was the first coloured person to graduate with a BA degree at the University of Cape Town. After many years of protesting for better coloured education, the Cape School Board finally approved Trafalgar as a new high-school with Cressy as the first school principal. The school had a total of 60 students within its first year and majority of those students were girls. In 2012 the high school celebrated a century of existence.
Located at the foot of District Six (D6), the school played an active role in the history of D6 and the anti-apartheid struggle. According to the school's current principal, Nadeem Hendricks, while the surrounding community had been forcibly removed from District Six, the plans to move the school were never successful due to the school's persistent determination to stay put. District Six has a rich history known to the people of colour, more specifically Coloured identity. One of the famous aspects of D6 history was the 1966 forced removals when the apartheid government declared Cape Town’s District Six a whites-only area under the Group Areas Act of 1950. From the year 1968, over 60 000 of the inhabitants of District Six were forcibly removed to the Cape Flats which is over twenty-five kilometres away from District Six.
"Despite the fact that we had no people living within a kilometre of the school, Trafalgar's legacy was literally written on our walls. The agenda was always not only to destroy District Six, but to destroy our legacy as well. However, they failed. Our student population never dropped. They planned to close the school and make it a naval base, but our spirit was such that we continued to produce outstanding academic and sporting results that they could not close us down," Hendricks related. This saw the school maintaining a pass rate of 80 - 90%, he added.
In 1984, the South African authorities planned to close the
school and ban non-white secondary students and reopen the school as a whites
only school. The principal of the school at the time denied these plans. This led
to political unrest and among many other schools, Trafalgar took part in the
1985 student boycotts within the Western Cape. The school along with the
students who attended in 1985, sacrificed that year and had to do it over to
ensure that no student was disadvantaged from the education they deserved. The
school is highly recognized for their fighting spirit and belief that every
student deserves a good education and they fought towards this for all the
future students who would attend the school.
The
legacy
Although the school had more students than resources, the
school has produced renowned alumni who had gone on to become recognized in
every field such as sport, medicine, science, business and education. Some of
the school’s notable alumni is Zainunnisa Abdurahman - anti-apartheid political
leader, Siraj Desai – judge, Alex La Guma – writer, Dullah Omar – politician and
Minister of justice and Helen Kies – teacher, activist, journalist. The school also
had the first coloured female to obtain and pass the “School Higher” in 1913.
The girl was the school’s founder Abdullah Abduraham’s daughter – Rosie Abduraham.
These are but only a few of the successful careers that have come from the school. It is clear that the school played a significant role in the career paths these students chose. They were taught to be different and fight for what they believe in and today their careers are doing the same. The school has a legacy in which they should be tremendously proud of and paves the way for many other schools who are striving to make a change and be recognized. The founder of Trafalgar, along with all its staff and students were determined to make history and they did exactly that.
Today
and the Future
In 2012, the school celebrated a century of existence and is
still running today. The school receives many applications every year and has
to deny more students than they accept. The school has a high academic and
extra curriculum standard and this ensures that they produce students of excellent
calibre. The school will continue to have their footprint in history and
contribute their legacy for many more years to come.
Trafalgar High School will always be known for the way in which
the school started and their journey up until this day. Back in 2012 when my
mom I applied to high schools; Trafalgar High School was one of my top three
choices. Unfortunately, due to the distance I did not attend the high school. My
parents who grew up struggling with education due to their coloured identity, wanted
me to experience a well-deserved education and knew that Trafalgar could offer
that.
Comments
Post a Comment
Tell me your thoughts?