The Dodo Pitt Education Fund

 

We have set up this fund in memory of our mother. Our mother was passionate about education, particularly for girls, so all donations will go towards helping disadvantaged girls in South Africa have access to educational opportunities.  We have decided to fund a pupil through schooling at Pretoria High School for Girl's (PHSG), and thanks to generous donations, this has become possible. PHSG is the school our mother and her sister attended and they both really enjoyed their time there, and left with a sense that they could make a contribution in the world. The school suggested an excellent recipient for our scholarship, a young girl whose parents have been struggling after her father had a stroke and can no longer work. They live on a tiny salary to support 3 children and they are extremely happy that their daughter will have an opportunity for a good education at PHSG.  

We thank you for your interest and are very grateful for your support.

 

Gill, Jenny, John, Margy and Bridget

 

Dorothea Rigsby Pitt  (7 May 1925 – 12 December 2009)

 

Dorothea Pitt (affectionately known as Dodo) was born in Pretoria in 1925. Her father, Thomas Becklake, was a top-ranking British civil servant and Director of the South African Mint. Dodo attended Pretoria Girls High School, and read English at Wits University. During the War, she joined the Womens' Auxillary Air Force, and was promoted to Air Corporal, carrying out research on the effects of decompression chambers on air crews.  

 

Dodo had a long and successful teaching career. First at Chisipite School in Harare, and then as English/Latin teacher, and Headmistress of St. Mary’s School in Johannesburg, where she was highly regarded by colleagues and pupils. After the Soweto uprising in 1976 she employed black teachers and admitted black pupils, risking the closure of the school in defiance of apartheid laws. One of her former pupils is quoted as saying: ‘She encouraged us to be fearless and adventurous, and develop our self-confidence in our own identity ... Almost two decades before our country obtained democracy and liberation, Mrs Pitt had already started liberating the minds of many a South African.' Later she was invited to become the first Director of the multi-racial Independent Examinations Board.

 

In retirement, Dodo remained active, producing curriculum material and teaching knitting and reading, as well as spending time with her five children and twelve grandchildren.Throughout her life she was a staunch believer in the importance of an integrated and diverse education system to support the needs of all South Africans.

 

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