Book recounts the struggle against apartheid era segregation in education

“The Open School Era (1976 – 1986)” is the title of a book published in recent days by Marist Brothers from the province of Southern Africa. The work deals with the fight against separate education during the South African apartheid era and the role that the Marists – along with other Catholic congregations – played in favor of race-neutral education.

The book was written by Brother Jude Peiterse in collaboration with Mrs. Robyn Picas.

Brother Jude was a teacher and later Head at the former Marist Brothers College in Port Elizabeth in the late 1960s and early 1970s. At the end of 1974, he was appointed Provincial Superior of the then South African Province. In a decade-long collaborative process with leaders of other religious teaching congregations, he promoted the “opening” of segregated church schools to all “races”. It was a turbulent period in the history of South Africa. The struggle involved countless meetings with political and church leaders until legislation was eventually altered to allow for “open’ schooling. At the end of his term as Provincial Superior, the Catholic Bishops of Southern Africa initiated the Catholic Institute of Education, appointing Br Jude as its founding Director. Three years later, the same group of Bishops appointed Br Jude as their Secretary General, a key position during the final years of apartheid and the early years of a democratic South Africa.

In 2017, St Augustine College (a Catholic Tertiary Institution) recognised his achievements for the “common good” in South African society by conferring on  him their “Bonum Comune” award, their equivalent of an honorary doctorate.

Mrs. Robyn Picas, who collaborated for a full year in producing the publication, worked for many years as a teacher and later head of the Primary School at Sacred Heart Marist College in Johannesburg.

In a video presentation the book, Br Mario Colussi recalls how, in the late 1970s, Br Jude and his Council opened up senior administrative positions in our educational institutions to lay persons, thereby fostering the promotion of Champagnat’s spirituality and eventually “Lay Marists”. The presentation of the book can be found at the following video:

Marist schools in South Africa

The Brothers arrived in Cape Town in 1867 and founded the first two schools there. Today there are five Marist schools: St Henry’s in Durban; St Joseph’s in Rondebosch, Cape Town; as well as St David’s, Inanda, Sacred Heart, Observatory and Marian College, Linmeyer – all in Johannesburg.

In the 1990’s, eight of Nelson Mandela’s grandchildren studied at Sacred Heart College, one of the three Marist schools in Johannesburg. At that time, the college had a significant number of black students. When interviewed by Br Jude Pieterse, Br Joseph Walton (director of the college during that period), recalled that Mandela came to school both before and after being elected president of South Africa.

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Those interested in purchasing a copy of the book can contact Br Mario Colussi at the following address: [email protected]