The Soweto student Uprising, Desmond Tutu, and TEE College - some painful and hopeful history

Here is a bit of painful, and hopeful, history.

This is an extract from the minutes of the first TEE College meeting that took place on 18 June 1976. Desmond Tutu was elected as the first Chair of the board of the college. As you will see in these minutes, after opening the meeting, he was called away to Soweto to support the community after the horrific police brutality of what is now known as the ‘Soweto Student Uprising’.

TEE College was set up by the Eccumenical Churches to train women and men for ministry during a period when South Africa’s apartheid government would not allow black women and men to study theology at Universities.

In the years since 1976 TEE College has trained tens of thousands of persons for ministry and service via ‘extended’ learning (allowing persons to study while being employed, thus not taking scarce skills and limited resources away from the communities in which they were serving).

TEE College offers a Bachelor of Theology Degree, a Diploma in Theology, and numerous Higher Certificates in Theology and Ministry. We currently have over 3000 registered students.

I am very grateful to serve as the current Chairman of the Board of TEE College. It offers a wonderful service to the Churches and society, with a gifted and dedicated staff based at our new Campus in Brackenhurst.

See the Facebook page for more details: https://www.facebook.com/TEECollege