First formal school opens at the Cape

Updated: 30 Sep 2019

Jan van Riebeeck, commander at the Cape, wrote in his diary that a school for slaves has been started. Sick-comforter Pieter van der Stael was the first teacher. To reward pupils (mainly adults) for their presence, they each daily received a glass of brandy and two inches of tobacco. The aim of the school was to increase the usefulness of the slaves to their owners. This school was founded by Commander Jan van Riebeeck for the slave children brought to the Cape in the Dutch ship, the Amersfoort, which had captured them off a Portuguese slaver. A second school, attended by 12 White children, four slaves and one Khoi-Khoi, was opened in 1661.

How we know this

01Christie, P. (1991). The right to learn: the struggle for education in South Africa, Cape Town: SACHED Trust, p. 32.
02Potgieter, D.J. et al. (eds) (1970). Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa, Cape Town: NASOU, v. 4, p. 225.
03Potgieter, D.J. et al. (eds) (1970). Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa, Cape Town: NASOU, v. 11, p. 139.

Last updated · 30 Sep 2019

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2011, March 16). First formal school opens at the Cape. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0010825

South African History Online (2011) 'First formal school opens at the Cape', South African History Online, 16 March. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0010825 (Accessed: 13 October 2026).

South African History Online, First formal school opens at the Cape [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0010825, (accessed 13 October 2026).

"First formal school opens at the Cape." South African History Online, 16 Mar. 2011, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0010825. Accessed 13 Oct. 2026.

South African History Online. "First formal school opens at the Cape." South African History Online. March 16, 2011. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0010825.