MATER SPEI CELEBRATE THE BEST IN BOTSWANA
Last Friday, 8 April 2022, Mater Spei College held a special celebration to honour the achievements of its golden boy, Phemo Den Chaba.
With an incredible 9A*, 1A, 1B and 1C, the 17-year-old Mosetse native is the best in Botswana, recording the top BGCSE 2021 results in the entire country. Held under the theme, ‘Perseverance and Sheer Hard Work’, the day saw Francistown-based companies show their appreciation for Chaba, showering the rare gem with gifts. In his welcome remarks, Mater Spei College Head Teacher, Baboloki Bajiti revealed Chaba joined the school in 2020, progressing from Setlalekgosi JSS with an A. “Today we are here to celebrate him as a top achiever, the best BGCSE results 2021 candidate in Botswana. I understand he added two more subjects to make them 12. He added Statistics and Agriculture in his first term last year and managed to scoop A*s on them. One can see he is a dedicated young man who takes education seriously,” declared Bajiti proudly. The School Head added Mater Spei boast a proud tradition of recording excellent academic results and have implemented a number of initiatives to ensure this continues.
“These are discipline, parental enrolment, remediation and enrichment done in the morning and in the evening study and Saturday study for completing students,” Bajiti explained. For her part, Chaba’s Head of House, Zibisane Smarts described the star pupil as a pleasure to teach and a credit to both the school and himself. “He was very determined and this made him persevere. He was always on my back, asking me to help with printing his school revision every week,” said Smarts, who encouraged the teenager to reach for the stars in his future endeavours.
Guest of Honour at the event, Malike Mmohe of Mmohe Attorneys, stressed Chaba’s achievements were well worth celebrating. “I had the opportunity to speak to the top achiever who told me he wants to do Maths and Finance and that for his Masters he wants to do Financial Engineering. Dreams are possible. The young man attained his dream through hard work,” stated Mmohe. The esteemed lawyer continued by advising Chaba that as he goes out to conquer the world, he should make it a point to return to Materspei occasionally to motivate and inspire other students. “His results shows that talent, dedication and communication produce rewards,” Mmohe closed. For his part, the man of the moment, Chaba attributed his success to hard work, a strict study schedule and regular communication with his teachers. “Every time before my exams I took a short prayer. My parents also supported me in this journey and I really appreciate this. “My aim was to do 13 subjects but I ended up doing 12 and with the assistance from my teachers we made it. I registered for the two subjects in
May last year and managed to pass them,” said the humble teen, who is currently doing his A-levels at Legae Academy in Gaborone. Chaba admitted the road to the top was extremely tough, which made the end result all the more worthwhile. “It was not an easy journey as I started missing meals in Term 3 and lost a lot of weight as I was busy with studying,” revealed the determined scholar, adding he was able to preserver with the support of his teachers and parents Encouraging Mater Spei’s next generation of students to follow in his footsteps, Chaba maintained that with hard work, determination and focus, anything was possible. Meanwhile, filling in for the Regional Director of Education, PEOI North East region, Malebogo Macheng praised Chaba for his impressive results. She noted the young man had created a legacy and that his achievements would be talked about for many years to come. “Knocking on teachers’ doors asking for assistance showed perseverance. He knew what he wanted and went out and got it. He should be very proud of himself,” gushed Macheng. In a brief the vote of thanks, PTA Chairperson, Aldrin Selolwane urged teachers and parents to work together as it helps improve the students’ academic results. “Chaba is living proof of this,” said Selolwane. For his sterling efforts, the top achiever received P10, 000 from Mmohe, a further P2, 000 from both Francistown Knitters and Mater Spei College PTA, a printer, external hard drive and P200 from Northern Fixtures and lastly P1, 000 from Dr Reginald Majama for a full colour pull-up banner of himself. Amongst the invited guests were Francistown Mayor, Godisang Radisego and former Mater Spei Head Teacher, Jabulani Munyere. Mokubung Caroline, a student at the school, mesmerised the audience with a moving poem.