Failure simply not an option at beacon of hope

FAILURE at the Centre of Science and Technology is just not an option.

That’s the message that greets each and every pupil who starts at the Khayelitsha school, which is fast becomingly a beacon of hope for those who wish to succeed at school. The school was awarded the special ministerial award at yesterday’s 2012 National Senior Certificate Awards ceremony.

Principal Phadiela Cooper said she was “ecstatic” with the matriculants’ performances. “The kids really made me proud once again. We are happy at the school that they did their best.” She said pupils knew they would not fail. “When the kids come to Cosat we tell them that failure is not an option. We don’t even want them to think about the possibility of failure.”

Cooper said they wouldn’t keep their strategy the same this year but evolve and try something different by focusing on pupils’ individual strengths.

One of the school’s top achievers, Lizo Ncapai, who passed with four distinctions, said he was pleased but felt he could have done better. He had done well because he worked smart, he said. Between school, studying and tutoring work he was kept very busy and so had to keep to a strict timetable.

Ncapai said he would study actuarial science at UCT this year. He looked forward to moving away from Khayelitsha.

“It’s very bad there. A lot of gangsterism.” He had purposefully gone to school early in the morning and stayed until late in the afternoon to avoid bumping into gangsters.

Odwa Madikane, who passed with five distinctions, said she was pleased with her results but had hoped to do better. She would be studying at UCT this year and couldn’t wait to move away from Gugulethu. “It’s a very crime-infested area. You have to guard yourself.”

Education MEC Donald Grant said the centre had been awarded the prize because of its “outstanding performance” in maths. “This school is the only school in the province to have achieved a 100 percent pass rate with an enrolment rate of 100 percent of their class of 2012 in maths. This is simply outstanding.”

Picture: COURTNEY AFRICA CELEBRATIONS: Matriculant Lizo Ncapai, who achieved four distinctions in last year’s exams, is congratulated by Penny Vinjevold, head of the Western Cape Education Department, Education MEC Donald Grant and Premier Helen Zille. Ncapai was a pupil at the Centre of Science and Technology in Khayelitsha which received a special ministerial award.