By Luvuyo Mjekula
The Sarah Baartman District expects a 91% pass from Makana and Ndlambe matrics set to sit down for their final exams in three days’ time.
The ambitious target was announced by Nosipho Hanise, a senior education official in the Sarah Baartman District, in Makhanda recently.
“In my analysis, I said in 2024, [from]Makana 1, 2 and Ndlambe, we are no longer expecting 82.9%, we are expecting 91%,” Hanise said.
She was addressing a gathering of matrics, teachers, parents, district education officials, education forums and the religious community at the Joza Indoor Sports Centre last Friday.
The theme of the event was “Grade 12 Last Push Intervention”, and grade 12 learners from Ntsika, Khutliso Daniels, Nathaniel Nyaluza, Mary Waters, TEM Mrwetyana and Nombulelo secondary schools, were motivated with prayer and inspirational messages of support.
District education officials made their expectations of the 2024 class very clear.
“The Sarah Baartman district says regression is not an option. Maintain or improve, even if it’s 0,5%,” Hanise told the learners.
She also gave them essential advice on preparing for and approaching their most important exam yet.
“We have identified and categorised you according to your performance and your teachers are ready to assist you.”
Hanise explained that the children would be incubated and had been provided with the necessary skills on how to study.
“I want to advise you never to go and write a single paper without practising [with]the question paper. If you are writing LIfe Sciences Paper 1, take the 2023 question paper and sit and look at it from the first to the last question and mark yourself with a memo, to see how you will do. We are coming to your schools to support you. We are saying today, we want to push those who are at risk and hold up those who got distinctions so that they don’t regress.”
The gathering asked God to guide the learners during their exams. “Most of us as Christians we believe God is always with us and we are here to pray with you, so that God intervenes when you write your exams. We are sending a petition to God to give you a relaxed mind, so that you are not stressed, your parents will be stressed and your parents are not stressed. We want God to send the holy spirit to be with you when you write,” said Hanise.
Gospel music veterans Amadodana aseWesile were on hand to deliver soothing and inspirational songs to encourage the learners.
Guest speaker, businessman, Sinethemba Neve, also motivated the learners, reminding them that they held the key to their own success. “Success is nothing more than a few disciplines practised everyday. Failure on the other hand is a few errors in judgment repeated everyday. The difference between the two things is the small things that you repeat everyday.”
He asked the learners a rhetorical question: “What are you applying for?”
He then said: “If you are appying for success, then you will be successful. But if you are applying for failure, rest assured you will get failure.”
District Education Forum’s Xolani Simakuhle, Makana Municipality councillor Andile Hoyi, who stood in for mayor Yandiswa Vara, as well as Sophumelela Khethelo, all gave messages of support.
“We are a community organisation and could not turn a blind eye to children’s struggles. We want to be part of this programme because as they say, education is a societal matter,” Simakuhle said.
He added that disciplining children should start at home and not be made the sole responsibility of teachers. The forum would continue supporting the learners, he assured.
Hoyi said: “May you grasp this opportunity with both hands, and understand that you are special. We want you to pass with flying colours. Everyone is here to wish you well. May you change the picture and get to the [expected]91%. We are here to support this programme, hoping you will be able to pass.”
Hoyi urged the children to consider self employment as careers. “How many accountants do we have from Makhanda?”
According to Khethelo, there is no reason the learners who make up the other nine percent should not push to pass. “The target should be 100 percent,” he said.
An education official urged the children to not even think about cheating and taking cellphones into exam rooms. Learners would be neatly and appropriately dressed for their exams. The official said she had assured the chief director of these.
Another education official used the platform to call on the local municipalities, Makana and Ndlambe, to reward the 2024 matrics with a prize-giving ceremony after the announcement of the results on 17 January 2025. “They must organise an award ceremony for learners and teachers who have performed excellently in 2024,” he said.
The learners signed and read a pledge, undertaking to do their utmost best to abide by the exam requirements, including arriving on time for their exams and not cheating.
In a well-received announcement, Mandisi Matyolo, head of the Cluster Management Centre (CMC) in the district, said the department was planning to provide meals to schoolchildren three times a day.
“We want to create a conducive environment for teaching and learning,” Matyolo said to thunderous applause.
