Who We Are
In 1926, the so-called, coloured community was primarily served by five churches in the town of Paarl. Each church also held its own primary school. However, at that time there was no Higher Educational facilities for the so-called coloureds. This LED to the establishment of The Athlone Institute by the following five churches: Bethel Congregational Church (Now the Bethel United Congregational Church (UCC)), Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Immanuel URC, St. Stephen’s Anglican Church and Zions Reformed Church (Now the Zions Uniting Reformed Church). Parishioners of the fore mentioned churches had to mortgage their own real property to raise a bond for the erection of the Athlone Institute for (Coloured) Higher Education.
The Athlone Institute was initially built as a Teacher’s Training School, with an accompanying Practicing School, for the training of teachers from post-STD. VI-level. This building in Berlyn Street, Paarl, was eventually utilized as a High School which, until then, became known as the Noorder Paarl High School.
In accordance with Government Policy, the school which was situated in a “White Group Area”, was ordered to move to new premises in Paarl-East but due to a natural disaster the new premises was partially damaged and declared unfit for use by the school. The school had thus to be relocated to the old building in Berlyn Street which is ever since being used as the Noorder-Paarl High School.
In 1953, the government of the day assumed responsibility for the High School and decided to purchase the buildings of the Athlone Institute for Higher Education. Once again the Athlone Institute had to erect a building, adjacent to the Noorder-Paarl High School, in Sanddrift Street, which became known as the Athlone Teacher’s Training School with its well-known maroon school uniform.
As from 1981 this institution became known as the Athlone College of Education for the training of teachers from post-matric level. However, in 1993, the Athlone College of Education was closed down by the Education Department and the building utilized to house the overflow of an overcrowded Noorder-Paarl High School, and later as the Frank Pietersen Music Centre.
With the closing down of the Athlone College of Education in 1993, and due to the fact that the Institute’s lease agreement with the Western Cape Education Department was to expire in 1998, the Athlone Institute found itself at a crossroad. Consequently on 17 June 1997, after long deliberations by the Athlone Board Members and other parties, the Institute adopted a proposal not to disband, but to continue funding certain worthy community projects in Paarl. It was also decided that the Board of Managers register a number of Trusts with the aim to:
- Act as funding agencies for community projects;
- Facilitate Development Projects;
- Establish a partnership with certain relevant government agencies in establishing such projects; and
- Transfer all assets of the Member Churches to the Athlone Institute Trust.
This LED to the establishment of four (4) Project Committees to administer the distribution of funds to minimize community participation and to make functional operations as transparent as possible. The Bursary Project Committee which was established in 1998, and eventually had registered with the Department of Social Services as a Non-Profitable Organisation (NPO) in 2006 is one of these committees. Since 2006, the Bursary Project Committee was renamed as the Athlone Institute Bursary Project Fund (AIBPROF).
Since
its inception in 1998, the AIBPROF has assisted in excess of 1,500 students WHO
have studied at various tertiary institutions, by awarding bursaries and
bursary loans to deserving students from the Paarl and Mbekweni communities,
thus far, totaling more than five (5) million Rands. Bursaries and Bursary
Loans are made available mainly to undergraduate students WHO apply annually
and register at a Tertiary Institution, and
for a Course(s) which have been accredited by the Council on Higher Education
(Department of National Education). From 2010 a few post-graduate bursaries in
certain study areas are also being made available to students according to
agreed Terms and Conditions.
Although AIBPROF is an NPO it acts mainly as an administrative agency for the Athlone Institute Trust, channeling funds from the Trust and other beneficiaries.