By Andisiwe Plaatjie and Siphesihle Joji
Kutliso Daniels Senior Secondary School was once again the cream of the crop among township schools in the Makana Local Municipality with their outstanding pass rate of 91.9% in their matric results for 2024.
Despite a slight drop from 96.4% in 2023, principal Radio Mcuba, praised his charges and has gone on to set the ultimate target for 2025 – a 100% pass rate.
Mcuba attributed the decline to the large number of progressed leaners the school had in grade 12 in 2013.
However this year, Mcuba believes things will be different. Although they have a large number of matrics (102) compared to 88 last year, he is optimistic. The school progressed only six pupils, who are disciplined and possess the potential to pass well.
Kutliso Daniels Senior Secondary School’s 2024 NSC results:
The number of pupils registered was 88. A total of 86 wrote, 79 were promoted and the pass rate was 91,9%, with only seven not promoted (8%).
The break down of the schools 2024 results was as follows: Matrics who obtained bachelors were 39 (48% of the 79 who passed), diplomas 31 (39% of the 79 who passed), Higher Certificate 10 (7,9% of the 79 who passed) and lastly seven learners did not pass (8% of the 79 who passed).
The school’s top three achievers were:
Lelethu Diko – five distinctions and two Level 5s.
Kamvelihle Ndzondzo – four distinctions, two Level 6s and a Level 5.
Nikhanye Plaatjie – four distinctions, a Level 6 and two Level 5s.
Mcuba explained the school’s success formula. “This success and achievement is attributed to school programs in which staff dedicate their time, willingness and sacrifice. Success breeds success,” he said.
Mcuba also pointed to learner discipline and their response to the school’s programs, with parental support, as reasons for success. He praised parents and Gadra for their continued support.
As part of the school’s plans for this year, Mcuba said they had done a SWOT analysis. “And from that, we were able to detect what best strategies work for us as a group or as a team, and which ones to be maintained and to be retained as part of our strategy that made effective strides and gains. We have carefully made an evaluation with consideration of the strengths, weaknesses and challenges of the team, which is staff, the grade 12 group, and their parents.”
He reiterated that their target for this year is 100%. “The team we have believes it is achievable.”
Meanwhile, Mzwandile Kleyi, the principal of Nathaniel Nyaluza High School, was more pragmatic, with a ‘realistic’ target of between 85% and 90%.
Kleyi said the results of 2024 were fairly good as they managed to get 84.8%, an improvement to the 80.6% achieved in 2023. The school has seen a steady improvement since his arrival in 2021, he said, with pass rates growing from 63% in 2021 to 75% in 2022 and 80.6% in 2023.
The target for this year is to be consistent as has been the case over the past three years. “The method that works for the pupils is having extra classes, Saturday classes, and camping in school towards examination time.”
However, they face challenges in terms of lack of participation by parents when it comes to cooking for the children on weekends.
The school’s target for this year will be a minimum of 85%. “We don’t want to take a huge bite that they are not gonna be able to manage. We want all our learners to obtain a 100% pass rate, but because of the challenges they are facing, we want to go for a realistic target for their matric results of 2025,” said Kleyi.