Unity High School is an independent multi-denominational co-educational private school in

Khartoum Khartoum or Khartum is the capital city of Sudan as well as Khartoum State. With an estimated population of 7.1 million people, Greater Khartoum is the largest urban area in Sudan. Khartoum is located at the confluence of the White Nile – flo ...

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

, which uses the English language and provides a British-style education to children from 4 to 18 years of age. It opened as an all-girls school in 1902, and in its current form goes back to 1928. Unity High is situated in the center of Khartoum.

History

The school was founded in 1902 as an all-girls school and was originally called the Coptic Girls School.Wheeler, Jack, Editor (1949
Unity High School for Girls Khartoum 1928-1949
Retrieved 19 August 2012 In the preceding years, the

Copt Copts (; ) are a Christian ethnoreligious group native to Northeast Africa who have primarily inhabited the area of modern Egypt since antiquity. They are, like the broader Egyptian population, descended from the ancient Egyptians. Copts pre ...

ic community in Khartoum had established a boys' school but lacked the resources to found a girls' school. Some Coptic families then approached the

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

missionary Llwellyn Gwynne (who later became Bishop of Khartoum) for help and the Coptic Girls School was opened in 1902 but changed its name to the Church Missionary Society Khartoum Girls School in 1903.Unity High School, Khartoum
Durham University Library Special Collections Catalogue, Reference code: GB-0033- SAD, 1902-1991, Retrieved 20 August 2012 In 1928 the Church Missionary Society school closed and the land reverted to Bishop Gwynne who with the support of four local Christian communities and the financial help of Christian merchants, then opened the Unity High School for Girls. An Old Girls Association was formed in 1928. In 1948 Margo Iskinazi, a Jewish girl who was a student, at the Unity High, noted that there were Egyptian Copts, Sudanese Muslims, Greek Orthodox and Armenian Christians among her classmates. Unity High School became co-educational in 1985. The principal before 2008 was Dr Marina Hitchen. It had Mrs Stephanie King as a vice principal from the year 2008 onwards, the director of the School was Mr Robert Boulos and the principal was Richard Woods. In 2019, it had an enrollment of some 630 pupils and the current principal (since August 2019) is Fiona Beevers.

Teddy bear blasphemy case

On 25 November 2007 the school came to international attention when one of its teachers was arrested by Sudanese authorities for allegedly insulting Islam by allowing the children in her class to name a

teddy bear A teddy bear, or simply a teddy, is a stuffed toy in the form of a bear. The teddy bear was named by Morris Michtom after the 26th president of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt; it was developed apparently simultaneously in the first deca ...

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

". The school was closed until January 2008 for the safety of pupils and staff as reprisals were feared.

Notable former pupils

Angela Isaac and Khalda Zahir graduated from the Unity High School in 1946 and that year Angela became the first Sudanese girl to enter university (

University of Khartoum The University of Khartoum (U of K) () is a public university located in Khartoum, Sudan. It is the largest and oldest university in Sudan. UofK was founded as Gordon Memorial College in 1902 and established in 1956 when Sudan gained independen ...

). Khaida entered university in 1947 and graduated as the first Sudanese woman doctor in 1952.Kashif, Hag
A Precise Biography of the Pioneers of the Sudanese Women Movement
Retrieved 19 August 2012 Fatima Talib Isma'il was the first Sudanese woman to get a degree from the University of London and pioneered the Sudanese Woman's movement. Another Unity High School graduate, Takwi Sirskisian, was the first female Sudanese journalist and published a monthly magazine for women called "Bint Alwady" (The Valley Daughter).

Meena Alexander Meena Alexander (17 February 1951 – 21 November 2018) was an Indian American poet, scholar, and writer. Born in Allahabad, India, and raised in India and Sudan, Alexander later lived and worked in New York City, where she was a Distinguished ...

, an internationally acclaimed poet, scholar, and writer, graduated from the Unity High School in 1964.

References

External links

* {{International schools in Sudan British international schools in Africa Educational institutions established in 1902 International schools in Sudan Education in Khartoum 1902 establishments in the British Empire Schools in Khartoum