Voortrekker High School

Voortrekker High School is a public, co-education, dual-medium (Afrikaans and English) High School situated in Cordwalles Road, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa.Voortrekker High School was founded in 1927 and was the first Afrikaans High School in KwaZulu-Natal. From January 1992, Voortrekker was the only Afrikaans medium school in Pietermaritzburg. It is rich in tradition with high standards in academics, sport and cultural activities.HistorySince the origin of the first schools in South Africa, Dutch was accepted as a formal first or second language in these schools. Afrikaans was only accepted as a language for education in 1916. The use of Afrikaans in schools was however not spontaneously accepted in the Colony of Natal which was predominantly a British Colony. Afrikaans speaking pupils in the Colony of Natal were thus only given the opportunity to be schooled in Dutch from 1916. Schooling took place on a veranda in the back yard of Longmarket Girls School in extremely poor conditions. During the years to follow, many letters, complaints and petitions were submitted to the Department of Education.It was only on Tuesday, 2 August 1927 that the first Intermediate Afrikaans medium school on the corner of Pine Street and Mayors Walk was completed. The school was originally named A.M.S (Afrikaansmediumskool). It started with 106 Primary pupils and 7 Secondary pupils.