Blue Plaque award for Sinton High
ALEXANDER Sinton High School stood as a beacon of hope through the dark days of apartheid and, while other schools were forced to close, it defied that authority and stayed open.
This was the reason the school received the Blue Plaque heritage award from the Simon van der Stel Foundation this week for its tough stance against the apartheid rule.
Attended by former pupils and teachers, the school used the event to name its hall in honour of its former principal, Khalid Desai, who died in December.
Speakers spoke fondly of Desai as a democratic man who would listen to other people’s views and act on them.
“It is very important to honour and celebrate our institutional memories, our founding fathers and the events that shaped our history so that we can pass the baton on to our younger educators, so that we can look back with pride at our greatest traditions,” said deputy principal Fazilet Bell.
From its humble beginnings in the Bekoedratoellar hall in Athlone, the school has grown, not only in size – from 90 pupils and three teachers in 1951 – but also in stature.
In 1988, when the then minister of coloured education closed the school because he believed it was a hub of political activities, the community decided to reopen it two weeks later.
All the schoolteachers were detained for defying the minister’s closure, but the community of Alexander Sinton High stood behind those arrested and prevented police vehicles from leaving the school.
“We remain a progressive school, agents of change, delivering quality education to poor children, but we keep our traditions and proud heritage,” said Bell.
A former teacher at the school, Leonard Gentle, said Sinton High was in the forefront during the 1976, 1980 and 1986 fight against apartheid.
“It is very appropriate to honour the sacrifices made by both the students and former teachers,” said Gentle.
Sigi Howes, from the Simon van der Stel Foundation, said not all schools that applied for the Blue Plaque received it.
“For the first time in history, we are awarding a plaque to this school, which has survived difficult times.
“I want to encourage the school to keep the Blue Plaque status, and those past memories must be retained and told to the future generations.
“The past is not forgotten, it was traumatic, yet here we stand, still going strong,” said Howes.
“The school has been a leading one and defied apartheid laws.”
The past is not forgotten, it was traumatic, yet here we stand