Gauteng’s top matriculants are honoured, while the education department gets ready for the start of a new year.
JOHANNESBURG'S scholastic achiever, Jessica Hill from Jeppe High School for Girls, received a distinction in each of her matric subjects – 10 in total.
Praising hard work and dedication, Gauteng's MEC for education Barbara Creecy
She was just one of the top achievers honoured by the Gauteng Education Department (GED) at a function at Jeppe High School for Girls on Thursday, 7 January. The function was timed to coincide with the release of the results of the matric exams nationally.
In many parts of the province the mood was upbeat as learners, with smiles, hugs and pats on the backs, congratulated one another on their achievements.
Gauteng education MEC Barbara Creecy said 2009’s results were achieved through hard work. “This achievement is a direct result of [the learners’] own dedication and hard work. They have shown that they understand the importance of the examinations as an important gateway to the world of adulthood, work, as well as further and higher education.”
Some 71 000 Gauteng learners, of a total of 109 000, passed their matric. This was a 71.8 percent pass rate.
“While we celebrate the achievement of our bright sparks in the province, the overall performance in the province is sobering,” said Creecy.
While the five percent decline in the pass rate compared to 2008 (76.4 percent) was a disappointment, the number of distinctions recorded in the province are noteworthy.
Amongst Gauteng’s cream of the crop with five distinctions was Fana Ndebele of Phefeni Secondary School, who scored 100 percent in mathematics.
The GED nominated 10 Gauteng matriculants to each receive a R35 000 bursary to further their studies in 2010, Creecy added. They are Hill, Ndebele, Happy Khambule, Kgothatso Mabaso, Khuliso Musweswe, Javis Lumo-Bosa, Amina Varachia, Liang Yu, Hayley van Dyk and Tiega Alberts.
“For learners who have done exceptionally well we remain committed to ensuring that they are able to access further and higher education as required to grow the economy of Gauteng and the country.”
Although 32 597 distinctions were achieved in Gauteng, Creecy said in 2010 this figure would improve. “We definitely can do better than this and we will be making a number of interventions to achieve better performance this year,” she added.
The department had allocated about 720 bursaries to indigent schools across the province in a bid to help learners further their studies.
Creecy also had a word of advice for those who did not do as well. She urged those learners not to despair, adding that they should pursue other avenues such as part-time education and rewrite the subjects in which they didn’t do well to try to improve their overall marks.
“Learners can register to write up to two supplementary examinations and in the past we have seen good results coming out of the supplementary examinations,” Creecy explained.
Repeating Grade 12 was also an option, she added.
Further Education and Training colleges are also available for learners to pursue diploma studies in scarce skills required in the economy, she added. “I appeal to parents and fellow learners to be supportive to learners who may not have done well so that they can achieve their full potential in society.”
Gauteng’s top performing public schools were Hoerskool Waterkloof, Boksburg High, Zitikeni Secondary, Eqinisweni Secondary and IR Lesolang Secondary, with Merafong in the West emerging as the top performing district in the province with a pass rate of almost 80 percent.
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