Healdtown Comprehensive School is a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...

school located near

Fort Beaufort Fort Beaufort ( Xhosa: iBhofolo) is a town in the Amatole District of South Africa's Eastern Cape Province, and had a population of 25,668 in 2011. The town was established in 1837 and became a municipality in 1883. The town lies at the conflu ...

Eastern Cape Province The Eastern Cape is one of the provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are East London and Gqeberha. The second largest province in the country (at 168,966 km2) after Northern Cape, it was formed in 199 ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

. It was established in 1855 and assuming its current name in 1994, having been known for most of its history as simply "Healdtown". The founder was John Ayliff, a Wesleyan Methodist missionary from England. It was closed in 1865 and reopened in 1867 as a center for theological and teacher training. In 1880 the theological school was moved to another place, and the Teacher Training School remained. Girls were admitted to study there in 1898. In 1925 a high school course was added. The government took over the school in 1956 due to the

Bantu Education Act The Bantu Education Act 1953 (Act No. 47 of 1953; later renamed the Black Education Act, 1953) was a South African segregation law that legislated for several aspects of the apartheid system. Its major provision enforced racially-separated educati ...

of 1953. The hostels remained in the hands of the Methodist Church. 761 students used the hostels in 1967. Prominent former pupils include: * Nelson Mandela (from 1937) and his youngest brother *

Robert Sobukwe Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe (5 December 1924 – 27 February 1978) was a prominent South African anti-apartheid revolutionary and founding member of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), serving as the first president of the organization. Sobukwe w ...

(1924 - 1978) founded the

Pan Africanist Congress The Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (known as the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC)) is a South African national liberation Pan-Africanist movement that is now a political party. It was founded by an Africanist group, led by Robert Sobukwe, that ...

(PAC) *

Raymond Mhlaba Raymond Mphakamisi Mhlaba (12 February 1920 – 20 February 2005) was an anti-apartheid activist, Communist and leader of the African National Congress (ANC) also as well the first premier of the Eastern Cape. Mhlaba spent 25 years of his life ...

ANC The African National Congress (ANC) is a social-democratic political party in South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election install ...

leader * Archie Mafeje, South African anthropologist and activist.

References

Methodist school survives challenges over 150 years
* D. G. L. Cragg: ''Healdtown Institution.'' in: Nolan B. Harmon (ed.): ''The Encyclopedia of World Methodism.'' The United Methodist Publishing House, Nashville 1974, pp. 1101f * Nelson Mandela: ''Long Walk to Freedom. The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela.'' Abacus, London 2005, pp. 43–50 Schools in the Eastern Cape Methodist schools in South Africa Educational institutions established in 1855 1855 establishments in the Cape Colony {{SouthAfrica-school-stub