HTS DANIEL PIENAAR THS

School Profile

Daniël Pienaar of Uitenhage is the oldest technical school in South Africa – a big school of great achievement, and the achievements include rugby football.

Uitenhage takes its name from the Batavian governor Jacob Abraham Uitenhage de Mist who was responsible for the founding of the town, now touted as a garden town but also an important part of Eastern Cape industry as the centre of the motor business.

Uitenhage is about 25 km north of Port Elizabeth at the foothills of the Winterhoek Mountains, an important railway centre now but especially in the days when the railways held greater importance. Situated on the Swartkops River, it is not far from the sea and not far from the Addo Elephant park with the densest elephant population in the world.

School

Hoer Tegniese Skool Daniël Pienaar is the oldest technical school in South Africa and has hits roots back in 1893 when Dr Andrew Murray of the NG Kerk proposed the founding of a trade school to educate "poor whites". Dominee DJ Pienaar of Uitenhage thought it a good idea., bought ground on the banks of the Swartkops and opened the school in 1895. It was then called Uitenhage Trade Skool which offered classes, mostly taken by the first principal F Doëge, in shoemaking, wagon building, welding and clothes making. The medium of instruction was English. In 1917 the school went dual medium

In 1915 the school acquired new buildings and expanded the next year to include a boarding hostel for 120 boys. In 1945 it acquired new buildings and more land for sportsfields. In 1969 it was rebuilt on its present site. In 1975 there were again new buildings and again in 1995, the centenary year.

In 1922 the school became a high school, changed its name to HTS Daniël Pienaar THS in 1956 in honour of its founder and in 1959 had its first matriculants.

In 2000 an Old Boys' Union was formed.

The school now has 970 pupils of whom 27 are girls.

Rugby

Daniël Pienaar has 18 teams – four Under-14, four Under-15, three Under-16 and seven Under-19 teams.

The first team coach for the last 14 years is Moolman Olivier.