DistantNews
Support us
🇧🇪 Belgium /Culture & Society

The School Born from Disaster: Wetteren's Scheppersinstituut's Explosive Origins

From VRT NWS · () Dutch

Translated from Dutch, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

In-depth Sources not specified Context piece
  • The Scheppersinstituut in Wetteren, Belgium, has over 1,000 students and offers technical and practical training, with some programs existing for over a century.
  • The school's origins trace back to 1876 when the Bishop of Ghent invited the Brothers of the Congregation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of Betharram to establish a facility for the numerous orphans in Wetteren.
  • The Teichmann sisters, descendants of a wealthy gunpowder factory owner whose business caused many deaths, funded the orphanage and school out of charity, turning a tragic industrial history into an educational legacy.

The Scheppersinstituut in Wetteren, a Belgian municipality of 23,000 residents, stands as a significant educational institution with over 1,000 students and a reputation extending far beyond its local borders. The school is notable for its wide array of technical and practical programs, some of which have been in continuous operation for more than a century.

In Wetteren were exceptionally many orphans and they needed care and guidance.

— Armand De LepeleireExplaining the bishop's reason for establishing the school in Wetteren.

The school's establishment in Wetteren was not initially straightforward. In 1876, the Bishop of Ghent requested the Brothers of Scheppers to set up a presence, a move that deviated from the congregation's existing network along the Brussels-Antwerp axis. The bishop's rationale was the unusually high number of orphans in Wetteren requiring care and guidance.

Responding to this need, the brothers founded an orphanage and a farm to support the children. Education soon followed, with practical training evolving from the farm's needs. A horticulture program emerged, and subsequently, other vocational courses were developed. Some of these, like the carpentry program, remain integral to the school's offerings today.

The sisters Teichmann wanted to do something back for the children of the victims. Out of charity, they founded the orphanage together with the Brothers of Scheppers.

— Jeroen TrioDescribing the motivation behind the founding of the orphanage.

The high number of orphans in 19th-century Wetteren stemmed from a tragic industrial past. Archivist Jeroen Trio explains that the orphanage was established thanks to the Teichmann sisters, descendants of Jan-Frans Cooppal, founder of a local gunpowder factory. The family's fortune, made from producing "poer" (gunpowder), came at a steep cost: numerous deaths resulted from factory explosions during the 1800s. Driven by charity, the sisters, alongside the Brothers of Scheppers, created the orphanage to support the children of the victims, transforming a history of industrial disaster into an enduring educational foundation.

It was a cruel history with an enormous number of victims. But at the same time, it is also an important aspect of our industrial history.

— Jeroen TrioReflecting on the tragic origins of the school's founding.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by VRT NWS in Dutch. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

More Stories

From Our Blog