MOSES MAGADZASCORES of people, who included former president Hifikepunye Pohamba, converged at St George’s Diocesan School in Windhoek a week ago to mark the school’s 100 years of service to the country.
The first Anglican bishop of pre-independent Namibia, the late arch-deacon Nelson Wesley Fogarty, founded the school on 8 July 1919 with only 27 pupils and four staff members with the motto: ‘For the betterment of mankind.’
The motto was coined after the horrors of the first World War, and served as a clarion call for former arc-foes to turn their swords into ploughshares.
The school has since grown into one of the most prestigious institutions in Namibia with 778 pupils, 370 of them girls.
The right reverend Luke Lungile Pato, the Anglican bishop of Namibia, delivered a special message. He challenged pupils, teachers and all those associated with the school to uphold the institution’s core values “of integrity, courage and caring for the weak and vulnerable,” as well as to commit to the pursuit of excellence at all costs.
“The culture of St George’s School is towards increasing excellence: both in academics and in the shaping of character, and in the unselfish values of service to the community and the nation.
“In other words, St George’s Diocesan School not only believes in high academic standards, but also believes in the development of character and altruistic values without which no country can prosper,” the bishop stated.
While noting that the school had grown into a heterogeneous institution embracing people from diverse cultures and backgrounds, the bishop said St George’s must forever strive to remain “a place where everyone is important, everyone is special, and everyone is respected.”
He noted that the school has a holistic approach to the socialisation of pupils.
“It is a place which strives to send forth its pupils into the world rightly trained in body, mind and character.”
Bishop Pato said the centenary celebrations presented a rare opportunity for introspection and rededication to the service of God and humanity through education.
He quoted the late president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, who famously said education is the most powerful weapon to change the world.
“Education is a game-changer. It is a weapon for changing the conditions in which we and others find ourselves,” he continued.
He saluted all those who, for many years, worked tirelessly and made sacrifices to make St George’s what it is today.
Looking ahead, bishop Pato enjoined his audience to reflect on how the St George’s school could help “Namibian children have access to first-class, well-rounded, value-based education, regardless of their race, ethnicity, socio-economic status and gender.”
He said the gap between the haves and have-nots was wide, and challenged the school to contribute “towards bridging the inequality gap in our society and nation in respect of the provision of education.”
The bishop likened members of the St George’s Diocesan School family to salt and light.
“Salt gives flavour and preserves; it keeps things from going rotten. We are salt when we enrich the lives of others by our witness and by our courage. Light has the characteristic of dispelling darkness, of warming all it reaches,” he said.
Other dignitaries who attended the celebrations were the speaker of the National Assembly, Peter Katjavivi, deputy higher education minister Becky Ndjoze-Ojo and representatives of the Fogarty family, among others.
Congratulatory messages have been coming from far and wide.
Among the messages was one from the Anglican archbishop of Cape Town, the most reverend Thabo Makgoba, who sent “love, prayers and congratulations” to the school.
The acting chairperson of the school council, reverend Mike Yates, acknowledged the hard work, dedication and sheer determination of the teachers, principals and successive school councils for making St George’s “an educational home of excellence.”
Reverend Yates said: “Thanks to those who have gone before us from Father Fogarty onwards. Today, we have a school which is not only based on Christian values, but also excels in offering a non-racial and non-discriminatory environment, a liberal faith-based education, the moulding of character to meet the challenges of an ever more selfish world where only the powerful can manage, and which prepares its pupils to speak up and live for truth, justice and freedom.”
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