By Ephreeda Banda, RU Communications
For Mandela Day this year, the Rhodes University Community Engagement (RUCE) office focused on supporting Khutliso Daniels Secondary School, Nombulelo Secondary School, and Nyaluza Secondary School, with mathematical literacy textbooks.
Rhodes University Vice-Chancellor Professor Sizwe Mabizela, said, “Today we are marking an important day for uTatu Nelson Mandela, and one of the things we have committed ourselves to is to advance his ideals, which is to ensure that young people in this city have access to quality and transformative education. We are therefore working with various schools to support their teaching and learning programmes. We are telling them, ‘You have a partner in Rhodes University; we will work with you to do well, and we want you to get a 100% pass rate, get good mathematics marks, and go to university’.”
Diana Hornby, the Director of RUCE said RUCE had been working with all the high schools, primary schools, and early childhood development centres in Makhanda for the past eight years.
“This has helped us create a pathway for young children who come into schooling intending to get good marks and get into university,” she said, adding that Prof Mabizela’s VC Education Initiative resulted in Makhanda moving from being one of the worst-performing districts in South Africa academically, to being the best-performing city in the Province for three consecutive years.
In seven years, the Grade 12 matric pass rate has risen by 23% to 85% in 2022, well above the provincial and national average. In 2022, Khutliso Daniels got 88.9%, ranking them 2nd in all public schools in the city; Nombulelo got 87.4%, ranking them 3rd, while Ntsika got 82.8%, ranking them fifth. And for the first time, Nombulelo Secondary School, a non-fee-paying school, had the highest number of Bachelor passes, with a whopping 80 Bachelor’s admission.
Analo Jack, Khutliso Daniels Secondary School’s RCL Deputy President, showed much gratitude towards Rhodes University, saying that when they did not have enough textbooks, the students had to share and did not have enough time with their books. Khanya Mdoko, the RCL President of Khutliso Daniels, added that this means a lot to them as being a large group of learners adds more pressure to them with the shortage of textbooks.
“We have received continuous support from Rhodes University over the years. However, this one is special as it marks the Mandela Day Act of Kindness Initiative,” added the Principal of Khutliso Daniels Secondary School, Radio Mcuba.
(This is an edited version of an article that appeared on the RU website).
