The welcome board to Stutterheim describes the town as the “Little Bavaria of the Border”. The town’s first settlers were German. Today, however, the majority of the 35 000 citizens are Africans, and live across the valley from the town itself in squalid conditions that are echoed all over the Eastern Cape.
In the heart of this town, in the shadow of the Amatole mountains, is Stutterheim Combined School, which is more than 100 years old and was one of the 46 schools in the province to obtain a 100% matric pass rate last year.
“In seven years we have had one matric failure,” principal Geoff Untiedt is proud to announce. “Our junior primary is highly rated. In fact it’s the best in the whole country.”
These high standards are being accessed by pupils of all races now, and the majority of the 692 pupils come from Stutterheim and the surrounding areas. The hostel can only accommodate 112 pupils, so many applications from as far as Umtata are turned down.
The school offers a wide range of subjects including computer literacy, life skills and technology. It shares its computer and technology centres with the Stutterheim community to the extent that the town has the highest concentration of technology teachers in the country.
The school works in co-operation with the Education Trust of the Stutterheim Development Foundation, which provides the 18-month technology training course in conjunction with Ort College of Technology and Rhodes University.
There are 36 teachers at the school, seven of whom are employed by the school governing council. Four are classified as temporary teachers. Most of the teachers belong to the National Union of Educators and teachers would have gone on strike this week.
“We have never supported industrial action,” says Untiedt, “because it disrupts things for the pupils. But, in this case, the government’s proposals would be detrimental to pupils.”
Stutterheim is run along old-fashioned strict lines. “We are very strict about school attendance, discipline, accountability and responsibility,” says Untiedt. “That is why people want to send their children here. I am under the impression that all communities see discipline as an essential component of education.”
The school offers just about every sports discipline, chess, bridge, a debating society and a thriving drama group.
Making the school a success takes a lot of time and energy from the teachers, says Peter Duminy, the deputy principal in charge of the primary school.
“We wouldn’t like to be seen as elitist at all. There are dedicated teachers in surrounding schools who work under difficult circumstances, and when we can we co- operate.”
“We are a public school,” adds Untiedt, “doing the best we can with the pupils we have been entrusted with.”