By Staff Reporter
Now in its eighth year, the 9/10ths programme has graduated 27 students in 2023, and is currently working with 224 grade 12 learners across Makhanda, all of whom are from no-fee public schools. Established a year after the inauguration of the current Rhodes University Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sizwe Mabizela, the programme forms part of Mabizela’s committment to revitalising public schooling in Makhanda.
Through the 9/10ths programme, Rhodes University student volunteers mentor local grade 12 learners through nine structured sessions, including study skills, discipline, and career opportunities to enhance learners’ full potential and equip them to pass at the tertiary level. The programme is supervised and managed by the Rhodes University Community Engagement Division in partnership with local Makhanda high schools and a local non-profit organisation, Gadra Education.
Two student beneficiaries of the 9/10ths programme, Sinoxolo Cossie and Sibulele Teyi, obtained their degrees this year with distinction. Cossie remembered his time in the 9/10ths programme as a great experience. “The programme was quite beneficial coming from a public school (Nombulelo Senior Secondary School) with limited resources. The mentor I was assigned was immensely helpful to me in terms of studying productively, structuring essays, accessing the soft material resources I desperately required, and developing the mental strength I needed to succeed academically,” says Cossie.
“I just earned my Bachelor of Social Sciences degree and am studying for my History Honours degree. It was an important milestone for my family because I was the first graduate. May the initiative continue to support children in the community and aid them in realising their dreams,” she added.
Director of Community Engagement at Rhodes University, Diana Hornby, applauded the recent graduates, saying “while we celebrate the number of mentees who are accepted to register at the University, participant graduation is the ultimate indicator of the programme’s success. Therefore, seeing 27 students who were 9/10ths beneficiaries graduate this year is very pleasing,” Hornby said.
The impressive quality of matric results produced by the city in the past seven years proves that the programme is indeed brightening the future of Makhanda’s youth. The city has produced over 300 grade 12 Bachelor pass learners for the past two years, says Rhodes University.
Said Hornby, “In 2015, Makhanda was one of the four worst-performing cities in the country. But in the 2022 national matric exams, Makhanda was the top performing city in the province for the third successive year with an 85% pass rate – which is 8% higher than the provincial average and 5% higher than the national average”.
(This is an edited version of an article by Matimu Shivambu of Rhodes University’s Communication and Advancement Division).
