SOUTH AFRICA: STUDENTS AT AN ENGLISH HIGH SCHOOL IN JOHANNESBURG PREPARE FOR THE ANNUAL ARMISTICE DAY PARADE AND TO EMBRACE THE RAINBOW NATION

Record ID: 863302

  • Title: SOUTH AFRICA: STUDENTS AT AN ENGLISH HIGH SCHOOL IN JOHANNESBURG PREPARE FOR THE ANNUAL ARMISTICE DAY PARADE AND TO EMBRACE THE RAINBOW NATION
  • Date: 9th November 2004
  • Summary: VARIOUS: OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN IRISH REGIMENT PIPES & DRUMS GOING THROUGH THEIR PACES IN PREPARATIONS FOR THE ANNIVERSARY (5 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 24th November 2004 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA
  • City:
  • Country: South Africa
  • Topics: Politics,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVACI27H9TIJYOC1STH9YSE6J8IO
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: It's a historic ceremony with a twist at a very English highschool in "rainbow nation" South Africa.
    These cadets are marching in preparation for the annual Armistice Day parade. More students and teachers were killed in World War I and II at this school in Johannesburg than any other school in the Commonwealth.
    The school is working hard at transforming its "English"
    heritage into one reflective of the "new" South Africa.
    As its pipe-band leads the marching cadets, it also leads the way for the transformation process. Fighting on the side of the Allies, South Africa provided troops who fought in both wars -- and died in far-flung places like Againcourt and the Ethiopian highlands.
    Prior to the end of Apartheid, the English-style school earned a place among elite English-speaking schools known as "Little England on the Veld".
    So when students at Johannesburg's King Edward VII School march in an armistice day parade each year, it's something they take seriously. Congo-born Serge is no exception.
    "It means a lot because, as a band we show what the school is all about and it's got a lot of tradition behind it so, it means a lot really, once you play the back-pipe then you know what it's all about."
    The school's bagpipe band also includes an ethnic Chinese piper.
    While black South Africans fought alongside their white compatriots in World War II, their role has largely been forgotten.
    That has begun to change as culture at English-speaking schools in South Africa adapts to post-Apartheid realities, ringing in a new era for the"Rainbow Nation".
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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