Welcome
Nearly 43 years after his death in police detention, the memory of the late Imam Abdullah Haron, lives on. Efforts to give expression to his legacy of assisting marginalised communities in particular, have resulted in the formation of the Imam Abdullah Haron Education Trust (IAHET).
The IAHET has been established, with the endorsement of the Haron family, to promote the late Imam Haron’s vision of empowering marginalised groups and individuals through education.
The principal aim of the Trust is to provide funding across the entire spectrum of education, ranging from the provision of infrastructure for pre-primary educational institutions to grants for post-graduate study.
News
Bursary Applications continue to climb
A record number of 278 applications have been received for the 35 Imam Abdullah Haron Education Trust (IAHET) bursaries worth R5 000 each. The number is up by 24 from last year’s record number of 254 applications.
The continuing annual increase in applications highlights the need for funding among students in marginalized communities and also the fact that the IAHET bursaries have now become established within Cape Town education circles.
“We are pleased to note the high quality of applicants but at the same time also sorry that we are only able to help less than 20% of those worthy students who applied,” said Junaid Daries, head of the IAHET’s Education sub committee.
“We have shortlisted the candidates who will be called to interviews between 14 April and 19 May 2012. Those who have not heard from us by now should assume that they have not qualified. Unfortunately we don’t have the resources and personnel to reply to each and every application. Successful applicants will be informed by no later than 25 June 2012,” Daries added.
This year’s allocation of R175 000 will bring the total amount allocated to bursaries by the IAHET to R886 500 awarded to 173 students.
Early learning opportunities vital for Matric success
By Professor Eric Atmore
Once again the National Senior Certificate results are poor, notwithstanding the small increase in passes from 67.8% to 70.2%.
Whilst only 70.2% of those children who wrote the 2011 National Senior Certificate exam passed, a far more frightening picture emerges when we look at the cohort of children that began Grade One 12 years ago. Official education department statistics tell us that 1,035,192 children that started in Grade 1 in public schools in 2000, and 872,693 (84.3%) reached Grade Seven, the last year of primary school. 496,090 wrote the Senior Certificate examinations in 2011 and 348,117 passed. This is 33.6% of the cohort that began school in 2000, revealing that only one in three children passed the senior certificate examination. Click here to read more..
“The constitution is a monument to people like Imam Haron”
The strongest memorial to the late Imam Abdullah Haron and others like him who died in police detention is the South African constitution.
Delivering the fourth annual Imam Abdullah Haron Memorial Lecture at the University of Cape Town on 28 September 2011, former constitutional court judge Justice Albie Sachs said the fate of Imam Haron and the many others who died at the hands of the apartheid police motivated those in the liberation movement to ensure that such atrocities would never occur again under the post-1994 democratic dispensation. Click here to read more..
The late Imam Haron’s children, from left, Shamila, Fatiema, Muhammed and his wife Mumtaz with Justice Albie Sachs holding the framed picture of Imam Haron presented to him as a token of appreciation.
Click here to read a transcript of the Albie Sachs lecture (525Kb)
E & Y accounts for Early Childhood projects
At least 450 children will benefit from new educational equipment now at their disposal following a R20 000 donation made to the Imam Abdullah Haron Education Trust (IAHET) by international accounting firm Ernst and Young.
The funds were used to purchase educational equipment such as literacy and numeracy sets, puzzles and educational games which will be utilised at four centres in Heideveld and Athlone. The centres were identified by the Centre for Early Childhood Development (CECD) who are recognised leaders in the field of Early Childhood Development. Click here to read more..
IAHET makes its mark
Six years after its establishment in September 2005, the Imam Abdullah Haron Education Trust (IAHET) continues to grow and make an impact, albeit limited, to students and marginalised communities in the field of education.
Addressing the IAHET’s annual general meeting at Alexander Sinton school hall on 13 July 2011, chairperson Mustaq Brey said he was pleased with the steady growth of the trust. Click here to read more..
IAHET Bursary Recipients for 2011
The 35 recipients of the annual Imam Abdullah Haron Education Trust bursaries were announced at the organisation’s AGM held at the Alexander Sinton High School Hall on 13 July 2011. The bursaries are worth R5 000 each.
Selected from a record number of 254 applications, the recipients are all tertiary level students who were selected on the basis of need and academic ability, irrespective of race, gender or religion. Click here to read more..
Fasting priest passes away
Tributes have poured in for Reverend Bernard Wrankmore, the Anglican priest who undertook a protest fast at the Signal Hill Kramat for 67 days to demand that the Apartheid government hold an open inquiry into the death in police detention of Imam Abdullah Haron. Rev Wrankmore passed away peacefully in Cape Town on 10 June 2011 at the age of 86.
The priest who was popularly known as Rev Bernie, captured the imagination of Capetonians and inspired many youth in the 1970s to speak out against police atrocities by his courageous and selfless protest action. Click here to read more..
Putting for Bursaries
The fourth annual Imam Abdullah Haron Education Trust (IAHET) Corporate Golf Day held on 7 March 2011 at the
picturesque Steenberg Golf Club once again proved to be an outstanding success.
Sixteen four-ball teams (see list) participated in the event which raised just over R176 000, all of which will go towards funding 35 bursaries for tertiary level students.
IAHET Chairperson Mustaq Brey thanked all companies and teams who participated saying without their contributions there would be no bursary fund. ‘The Golf Day has established itself as a prestige event among our regular donors, most of whom have played in every Golf Day since it was started four years ago. Without their participation we certainly would not be able to run the bursary fund which has grown from the R50 000 we disbursed in 2006 to the R175 000 we now award annually to 35 students.’ Click here to read more..
UCT honorary doctorate for Mary Burton
IAHET trustee Mary Burton has been nominated to receive an honorary doctorate in
Social Science from the University of Cape Town.
Ms Burton, who has a long and distinguished history of activism for social justice, will be awarded her degree at the university’s December graduation ceremony along with David Potter, the founder of microcomputer systems companies Psion and Psion Teklogix.
Teaching legend Stella Petersen and UCT Emeritus Professor Martin West have also been honoured by the university and will receive their degrees in June. Click here to read more..
Record number of applications for Imam Abdullah Haron Education Trust (IAHET) Bursaries
A record number of 254 applications were received for this year’s Imam Abdullah Haron Education Trust (IAHET) at the closing date of 25 February 2011.
The bursaries which are open to all tertiary level students, irrespective of race, gender or creed, are worth R5 000 each.
Junaid Daries, head of the IAHET’s education sub-committee said the quality and variety of applications will make the task of short-listing candidates and awarding the bursaries very difficult.
“The number of applications received, which is up significantly from last year’s figure of 176, is both a reflection on the growing profile of the IAHET, which is now into its fifth year of operation, as well as a sign of the tough economic times.
“We are happy that so many of our youth are pursuing tertiary studies and even though the bursary doesn’t cover all their fees it does make a significant contribution to meeting their financial commitments.
Mr Daries pointed out that shortlisted candidates will be called to interviews between 26 March and 25 April and that successful applicants should be notified by the first week of May. “Those applicants who have not been contacted by 26 March should accept that their applications were unsuccessful – because all our members hold full-time jobs we simply don’t have the time or capacity to notify each applicant,” he said.
Tuition adds to Maths pass rate
As many young students in marginalised areas continue to approach Maths and Science with trepidation, thanks to years of poor facilities, a lack of qualified teachers and neglect by the education authorities, the IAHET’s Maths and Physics tuition programme has played its part in reversing this trend as matric pass rates continue to rise at the schools where the programme is being run.
After starting out at Steenberg High School three years ago, the programme was extended last year to include Spine Rd High in Mitchell’s Plain and Joe Slovo High in Khayelitsha thanks to sponsorship by Santos FC and Brimstone Investment Corporation. These sponsorships supplement the funds raised for the programme at the annual IAHET Golf Day held in November at the Rondebosch Golf Club.
All three schools had pass rates of over 70% in Science and two had over 70% in Maths (see table) with Joe Slovo producing the top achievers in both subjects in the Khayelitsha region. Click here to read more..
Imam Abdullah Haron Education Trust Bursary Recipients for 2010
Thirty five students have received the annual Imam Abdullah Haron
Education Trust bursary awards worth R5 000 each for the 2010 academic year.
Selected from 187 applications, the candidates are all tertiary level students
who were selected on the basis of need and academic ability, irrespective of race,
gender or religion.
Read more ...
IAHET continues its growth spurt
The continued growth of the Imam Abdullah Haron Education Trust (IAHET) was
lauded by chairman Mr Mustaq Brey at the organisation’s Annual General Meeting
held at Alexander Sinton High School on 14 July 2010.
“The continued growth of the Trust, which is now in its fifth year of
operation, is really heart-warming and I would like to think that we have,
in a small and humble way, managed to make a difference to the lives of at
least some people who live on the margins of society,” said Mr Brey,
addressing nearly 100 people who braved the elements to attend the meeting.
Read more ...
Tuition programme lauded
The IAHET‘s pilot Maths and Science tuition programme for matric students
which was launched at Steenberg High School last year has been lauded by the
school‘s principal, Mr Andre Kraak as having played a major role in not
only improving results but also reviving interest in the subject among learners.
Read more ...
Patel hails Imam Haron’s courage
“Imam Haron was an exceptional man whose impact and legacy has helped to shape the consciousness of a generation of activists,”
Addressing an audience of 200 at the third annual Imam Haron Memorial Lecture held at UCT on 27 September the Minister of Economic Development, Mr Ebrahim Patel paid tribute to the role played by Imam Abdullah Haron in the liberation struggle at a time when many of his peers chose the expedient route of silence.
“Imam Haron lived in a time when many of his peers were cowed by the power of the Apartheid state. Some of them chose the expedient route of silence, caught in a world of slawats and ritual, while people were systematically denied political freedom, deprived of the right to vote or confined to a vote in a second class system.
“Imam Haron was one of the finest examples of the generation of our parents. An Annual Memorial Lecture and an Education Trust Education Trust is a fitting tribute to someone who lived his ideals in his practice,” Mr Patel added.
“Imam Haron was part of the generation of the 1960s – one of a number of committed activists in different organisations who showed courage in the face of enormous odds — the Western Cape contributed many of those activists.
“Our challenges today are in some ways different to the challenges he faced. And yet the townships that he visited, the poverty that he confronted, the change in the lives of people that drove him are the central pre-occupation of our time too.
“As I reflect on the relevance of Imam Haron’s life to contemporary South Africa I single out his preparedness to see suffering where many closed their eyes, to be disturbed by that evidence he saw and to act in order to change that suffering, this is a unity of belief and practice which as so many times in social struggles means going beyond what is convenient, what is expedient, what is safe. It is a quality that a free people must always nurture,” Mr Patel said. Click here to read the edited version of the third annual Imam Haron Memorial Lecture delivered by Mr Ebrahim Patel, Minister of Economic Development
His guidance and wisdom will be missed
“A man of tremendous integrity and wisdom, and an educationist par excellence.”
Paying tribute to the late Mr Noor Moerat, who passed away on 18 December 2009, Mustaq Brey,
chairperson of the IAHET Board of Trustees said Mr Moerat’s wisdom and guidance would
be sorely missed by the Trust.
“As a founding trustee of the IAHET Boeta Noor, as he was affectionately known, played
a great role in guiding us through the early years of our existence. Despite his advancing
years and ill health during the latter part of his life, Boeta Noor was still committed to
making his contribution to the Trust. We are indeed privileged to have been able to work
with him and benefit from his wisdom and guidance,” Mr Brey told the IAHET Annual
General meeting held on 14 July 2010.
Mr Moerat served as principal of South Peninsula High School from 1968 until his retirement
in 1984. After graduating with a BSc in 1946 and Secondary Teachers’ Diploma in 1947,
he entered the teaching profession the following year.
Mr Moerat’s contribution to the teaching profession was recognised in 2002 when he
received an Award for Excellence in Science and Maths Teaching from the Department of Education.
At the AGM, IAHET trustees Fatiema Haron-Masoet and Mary Burton presented a plaque paying
tribute to Mr Moerat to his widow Mrs Gadija Alewya Moerat.
Click here to read the tribute to Mr Moerat
Latest Annual Report and Financial Statements
Click here to go to the Annual Report page
Companies swing for Bursaries
The second annual Imam Abdullah Haron Education Trust (IAHET) held at the
Steenberg Golf Club on 5 March 2009 proved to be an even bigger success than
the inaugural event held at the same venue last year.
Playing in near-perfect conditions on a bright, sunny late summer afternoon
in magnificent surroundings, the competition was strong among the 15 four-ball
teams.
Read more ...
Gordhan calls for social activism at IAHET Jo’burg launch
Three years after launching in Cape Town during which time it has funded more than 40 tertiary level students as well as a computer facility at a primary school in a marginalised community, the Imam Abdullah Haron Education Trust (IAHET) has now established a presence in Gauteng.
Speaking at the Johannesburg launch of the IAHET at the Johannesburg Country Club on 29 October, Pravin Gordhan, Commissioner of the SA Revenue Services, commended the IAHET for their efforts to help South Africans remember Imam Haron whom he lauded for “his passion for freedom and his determination to create a South Africa without poverty.” Read more ...
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