Benjamin Mahlasela Secondary School achieved a 100% pass rate in the recent matric exams, which principal Sandile Dude attributes to having a small matric class.
According to Dude, having a class of seven matric learners meant that teachers could provide more individual attention to the learners.
Benjamin Mahlasela Secondary School achieved a 100% pass rate in the recent matric exams, which principal Sandile Dude attributes to having a small matric class.
According to Dude, having a class of seven matric learners meant that teachers could provide more individual attention to the learners.
The stats are an improvement on the school’s previous results, which saw only four out of a class of 29 matrics receive their matric exemptions.
Dude says that in an effort to ensure a 100% pass rate the seven learners were encouraged to attend afternoon classes given by teachers and weekend classes offered by Rhodes University volunteers.
“If one or two learners were absent from school the teachers would use their own cars to fetch them and bring them to school. We did a lot of things differently last year and we hope to maintain that standard this year going forward,” says Dude.
Dude says he would like to keep the matric class smaller in the future so that the learn ers can receive “a lot more individual attention. Everything that we have done this past year was correct and we just have to maintain the standards now.”
In the past the school has battled to attract new pupils as a result of their poor academic record, but Dude says he is determined to change this.
“We are appealing to parents in Extension 6 and 7 to bring their children to the school,” he says. “Teachers at the school will work harder to maintain the standard they have set for themselves.
We are going to motivate and concentrate more on the Grade 11 learners to make sure that they too do better at the end of the year.” Dude attributes the previous low pass rates to a lack of resources, little support from the District Education Department and a lack of support from parents.
He also says that in previous years the school promoted some Grade 11 learners to Grade 12 and this meant “that we had a number of matric learners who couldn’t keep up with the level of work in matric.”
Last year the school did not promote any Grade 11s and according to Dude “we moved forward with the seven that passed Grade 11 and we concentrated on them.”
