Chapter five · 1974 – 1993
The building that came back
Forced removal under the Group Areas Act, prefabricated classrooms, a storm — and a return.
Under the Group Areas Act the community was moved off the Breda Street campus in the mid-1970s. Teaching continued in prefabricated and asbestos buildings on new ground; a storm later tore through them. In time the school returned to the original campus.
The Athlone Training College continued until 1993, when it closed in the national wave that ended South Africa's colleges of education. Its graduates had by then been teaching in Western Cape classrooms for four decades.
Noorder-Paarl High School stands on the campus today. Its survival, in the CEO's words, is a testament to generations who refused to let their educational heritage be erased.
The detail of the removal, the storm and the return is drawn from the Trust's own narrative. Public documentation of these events has not been located and the account awaits confirmation from Trust and school records.
“Noorder-Paarl High School stands today as a testament to the resilience and determination of generations who refused to let their educational heritage be erased.”
Sources for this chapter
- Partnerships and potential: Building Athlone Institute Paarl's second century, Sunday World, 15 August 2026 Read the source
- Unpacking the past: The ambivalent legacy of colleges of education — Maureen Robinson and Linda Chisholm, Yesterday and Today (SASHT), 2022 Read the source
- Dorothy Williams (activist), Wikipedia Read the source