Annual report

FOREWORD

None of us can doubt the critical need for education in South Africa today; there can be no question about its importance and the role that it can play in building a better country and leading towards the eradication of poverty and healing the dreadful legacy of apartheid that was bequeathed to black schools in this country.

The schools that have been identified for the first phase of restoration by the Historic Schools Restoration Project are all schools that made a massive contribution to the struggle for freedom in this country. With the rebuilding of these schools we are faced with a tremendous challenge and opportunity: to return them to their former state of excellence and to develop a new generation of learners who will be ready to take their rightful place in South Africa.

The HSRP is very dear to the heart of the government, and the reason why we have given it financial backing is because we believe that these schools and those who went to them are in a position to give us a particular perspective on the high standard of education they achieved before apartheid policies destroyed them. This is evidenced by the number of people in high office today in all spheres of society who were educated in schools such as Healdtown. We need to be reminded of this history of excellence and to bring it back to life.

If we give children schools where they can learn to spread their wings and fly, where their dreams can be nurtured and developed, then we will have made a great investment not only in the lives of the pupils but also in the future growth and stability of our country and region. We will give parents a reason to be proud of their children’s schools and they will be keen to get involved in the schools.

We live in times of great change, but we also live in a time of great hope. Here we have the possibility to make that hope a reality, the chance to produce young people who are truly learned. To that extent we must continue to combine the best of our past with best of our present and, out of that, we will be able to usher in our aspirations for a great nation.

President Thabo Mbeki
Excerpts from a speech at Healdtown, June 2008